HONOR
by Traveler48
Summary: An Atlantis scientist helps a Wraith die with honor. She gets up close and personal with the hive. This story contains original characters and a lot of speculation about Wraith culture and politics.
1. Chapter 1

HONOR

A story by Traveler64

"There are worse ways to die."

That's what it—he—had said to me as I stumbled through the perpetual twilight of that planet, the two red moons glowing through the canopy of the forest like two lanterns. The world around me was filled with deep, confusing shadows, the light from above obscuring more than revealing the shapes and forms that closed in on me. I was thrashing through the ghostly maze of branches and shades with increasing panic, cursing aloud and unconcerned of alerting enemies and predators in this place where the Wraiths had culled the natives into small, frightened patches of humanity. The moons were shifting above, and with their waning and rise of the distant sun that was no more than a dark red orb in the maroon sky, the storm of wind funnels would come. It came only once in one hundred years, and my team of scientists had come through the stargate a day before to take measurements and data about how this deadly storm was created. It would strip the land of all vegetation; and any life that was caught above ground. My words to describe my predicament were choice and colorful, festooned with imaginative swearing and framed by a mantra: "You're not dying here. Not yet. Not now." This would be punctuated by desperate calls on the radio that failed to respond.

It was at the end of a particularly long tirade that was particularly colorful in profanities, which I shouted into the radio to a dead world, that I heard the male voice telling me that dying in a blast of wind that shredded you into strips was not the worst. It had not been loud; more like what was known as a stage whisper.

The panic and outrage of the prospect of such a stupid death—I had taken a detour an hour before to see some quartz formation that glowed rather prettily; way to go!—drained away in a sickening pool in the pit of my stomach. A flicker of hope shimmered at the bottom of that pit. Someone was out there; someone who was on his way to shelter; one of the very few natives still left. Perhaps himself delayed, but knowing where he was going. Over the millennia, since the Ancients had settled them here, the natives' eyesight had adapted to that perpetual twilight and their vision was catlike. That had been of great interest to our doctor.

However, something in that voice gave me pause. None of the people of that planet whom I knew and conversed with many times, spoke quite like this. There had been only a few words, hardly enough to judge anything by them, but it was the wistful tone that made me wonder. And the choice of words also struck me, although, again, there had not been many said. A man of that planet would not be wistful, but rather contemptuous of my weakling ranting; and certainly would not deliberate on the merits of one kind of death versus another. He would probably say something to the effect of 'shut up and die.' Not that this was a brutal people; or lacked compassion; but, their history at the hands (literally at the hand) of the Wraiths had suppressed and destroyed their softer side; if they ever had one. They were tough with themselves and tough with others.

There was one more thing about what I had heard in the darkness of the forest-it was not the fact that I understood the language—I had gone through the stargate and the nanopulse implanted at the moment of crossing would have made it possible for me to understand. What had struck me as very odd was that I had no doubt that the words had actually been spoken in English; whoever was out there, he had gone through the stargate as well. While the scientist in me considered the evidence and welcomed it, the human instinct told me that there was danger there. I was also embarrassed that he had heard me ranting.

I moved slowly now, feeling the pain in my legs and back. The drop in air pressure as the storm was gathering across the mountains and valleys over the horizon, cut my breath. I squinted and strained my eyes to see among the shadows.

And I saw him in the form of a deeper shadow than the rest and a pale, ghostly orb above it that indicated a face framed in long hair, luminous in its whiteness.

My breath stopped.

A Wraith.

A thin thought, like a warbling alarm formed in my mind as my breath returned. It—he—had seen me before I had seen him. He had listened to me and had watched me. Yet, he had not attacked. He had actually warned me about his presence.

I stopped and looked carefully, trying to make him out. He was still, as if frozen in that pose, standing against the massive trunk of tree, the branches irradiating around him. His head was tilted forward, his face half hidden by the hair that fell down his shoulders and his chest. Some of his hair was tangled in the bark behind him, looking like a halo.

His head lifted a bit. "I am in no position to harm you," he spoke again. "You can easily harm me." Those words, spoken as something of a challenge, were followed by an angry, frustrated hiss.

I've seen Wraith from a distance; I've seen them in pictures and videos. I've never seen one close. I was certainly seeing this one closer than any human had the right to do and live.

And there was no reason for this one to be where he was. The humans on this planet had been culled a month before. The Wraiths had gone leaving just enough behind to procreate and grow, ready for culling fifty years from now. True, the Wraiths were getting hungrier and more brutal in their culling as humans dwindled in numbers. At times, they finished off the population, or taken what was left with them to cut off the feeding ground for a rival hive. Still, there was no reason for them to come back to this planet so soon. And only a one?

That sickening and unwelcome human fear fluttered again through me.

"You are afraid even of a Wraith's shadow," he said in response to my fear. I have heard that they could tell fear in their victim; now I knew that it was true. I fingered my gun and pulled it slowly. Let him sense THAT!

"You will not kill me," he said.

A very talkative Wraith. I started to hum a song in my mind to cover anything that the Wraith might detect.

"You fight your fear well."

A very clever Wraith indeed. And why wasn't he attacking?

Instead of attacking he was… conversing. He was almost chatty, having suppressed even the slightest hint of a hiss in his voice.

My fear drained away. I turned on the light at the tip of my weapon and directed it at him. I had kept it off because it would only confuse the shadows and darken my vision; and also, although a peaceful planet with inoffensive animals, I didn't want to alert anything or anyone. And how clever I was… I allowed a Wraith to observe me at leisure. Way to go, girl!

The light slipped over him. He was a Wraith, all right! One of the more impressive specimens, which told me that he was of a higher rank. Perhaps even a commander. He wore a long, black leather coat, exquisitely crafted with intricate work of silver and embossing. The hair, looking quite uncharacteristically disheveled, had once been braided and carefully combed. The face had long facets and the skin looked almost translucent. The wisps of hair of his chin were also braided. Absurdly, I wondered who did that for a Wraith. They were vain creatures—

"Sorry to meet you like this," he positively drawled.

I put the light on his face and caught a—smile? Oh, great! Wraith humor.

It was the face that confirmed to me that something was wrong. The skin was a pale gray, covered by a bluish sheen of humidity; and it was haggard, looking old although this was not an old Wraith and Wraith did not really show age. It looked fragile. I shone the light in his yellow eyes. It looked back at me with a feral glint in them. Defiant and arrogant, of course.

"Satisfied?"

"What's wrong?" I asked rather foolishly, really. Yeah, right. Ask a Wraith 'what's wrong'.

He didn't answer.

I shifted the light and the glowing circle slipped down.

I saw what was wrong; and I shuddered, even if it was a Wraith. He had been impaled, the tip of the branch that had been sharpened for the purpose I had no doubt, protruding through the area of his diaphragm; if a Wraith had such a thing. Apparently it had not touched any vital organs. He had healed, of course, and healed around it. It pinned him to the tree.

I heard a rattle of metal and shifted the light. He was chained to the tree, the links around his middle and his left arm, rather loosely I noted. His right arm was not chained—

He lunged forward and in the split second it took me to move, his right arm flew at me to grab me, but it brushed against my chest and failed to grip me. The arm stopped midair, in front of my face.

A stump where his hand should've been, pointed at me.

"Good God," I whispered.

A hissing bellow of utter frustration came from the Wraith.

The feeling that came over me surprised me; it was instinctive, a natural reaction of one intelligent being for another. The Wraiths were what they were, what nature and the Ancients had made of them. I was not military, but a scientist, and my clinical study of everything alive or dead, gave me a detached view. They had no control, the same as humans had no control over the composition of their existence—water, carbon and electrical wiring of nerves. We lived off living things as well, but we were fortunate that we could subside on supposedly brainless life, like plants, or mollusks, if need be. A Wraith lived off the life energy of other intelligent beings; the more intelligent and defiant, the more satisfying. The higher intelligence quenched a deep thirst. Perversely, there was no alternative for them; if they wanted to remain Wraiths. And they liked being Wraiths.

The feeling that surprised me was one of compassion, particularly startling since it was for a Wraith. But, someone had been particularly cruel and vengeful with this Wraith. It was doubtlessly in response to the Wraiths communal brutality and cruelty; but that brutality was only in the confines of their needs. They were so with each other.

I would have no problem killing a Wraith; especially in self defense. But, I would not, nor would any of my team mates, go to the length someone had gone to torment this one.

"Save your pity," he hissed at me, apparently angered by my feelings. "We have none, and expect none."

"It's not pity," I countered rather quickly, and defensively. "It's just not right."

"Perhaps I earned it."

Confession from a Wraith? Now I was curious, suddenly anticipating a deliciously cynical answer. "How?" I prodded.

"I hesitated. I suddenly remembered that humans feel pain. That was a mistake."

Ah… A mistake; worse than a sin. "Never realized Wraiths had such fine feelings."

"That _was_ my error." The chains rattled.

"A positively human error." And I regretted saying it. I was taunting him.

I went closer, although he could have killed me even without his feeding hand; and even though weakened by starvation. He was starving; slowly; painfully.

"If I unchain you, can you free yourself from that branch going through you?" I asked.

His pale yellow eye looked at me and considered me for a while. "What's the use," he hissed softly this time. "I cannot survive. As I told you, there are worse ways to die than from that storm coming. For a Wraith dying of hunger is the worst kind of death. There is nothing you can do for me."

The storm! I had forgotten.

"There's a cave nearby," he said, having guessed the source of my sudden alertness.

"Where?"

His head nodded in to my left. "Go between those trees and follow the path until you reach the face of the cliff. You'll see it. There's an iron gate that closes over it. It was built by the humans who lived here log before we came."

"The storm is close," I said. "Can I make it in time?" That last statement was feeble.

"You must go now. It's some distance from here."

I started towards the thicket of trees he had pointed to. The path was clear and I found the entrance a lot quicker than I expected. The gate was of thick cast iron, able to withstand the onslaught of anything. I went in. It was hewn out of rock, its depths unknown, a soft whisper of winds coming from some far chasm.

I walked back to the gate and started to pull it shut. It growled on its hinges, the sound echoing.

But, a thought nagged at me. I stood on the threshold and could not move back into the cave.

This is going to be bad karma, I muttered. There was another half hour or more until the storm came. I ran out of the cave, and felt the air move. It _was_ coming.

"You came back?" the Wraith almost mocked when he saw me reappear in front of him.

I shined my light on his chains. They were solid and the cuff on his left hand was tight. But… if I cut off a couple of branches—No, that would not work.

"Don't be absurd," he said, rather softly. "You cannot free me. And it's useless."

I didn't answer him and circled the tree.

"Just kill me, if you must do something," he hissed, more like a purr than a hiss.

"Haven't you learned anything about humans yet?" I rumbled.

"They're stubborn to the point of stupidity." His yellow eyes were on me. "Kill me. And then cut me out of these chains."

I threw him a long look.

"I don't want to be left in chains," he said almost inaudibly. "Especially not in death. And the only way you can free me is if you cut me out of here. I'd rather be dead when you do that."

"I can't do that!" I exclaimed.

"What's so difficult about it?"

I decided to provide him with a bit of human wit. "I won't kill you. Not until I freed you. Then, I'll kill you. Human honor code."

"Humans are so complicated…"

"And Wraiths are not?"

Did I see a smile?

But he was doomed, he was right. He was in pain. I had heard that hunger for a Wraith was like burning alive. The sheen of humidity was from pain.

"You better do something, one way or another," he said. "The storm is here."

"Who did this to you?" I asked as I circled the tree again.

"Your kind."

"My kind as in human or as in from Atlantis?"

"As in human."

My calculations of the chain's tangle completed I put out my hand and tugged at it. He let out a soft hiss. "Sorry," I whispered. "Brace yourself."

He snorted.

"So to speak," I countered and put the muzzle of my weapon against one link of the chain that went around the side. I pulled the trigger and a flash of white light, followed by a sheaf of explosion split the air and the tree. The chain blew part and the tree splintered. I let out an obscenity as the impact of the tree opening from inside out propelled the Wraith forward. The force of the movement sent him to the ground, the branch that impaled him slipping out, ripping him open anew. He screamed.

He fell against me, suddenly overwhelming me. Oddly, what stayed with me was his smell. I never thought of Wraith in such physical terms, and it surprised me, overcoming the shock of a Wraith on top of me. It was like nothing I ever smelled, but it was not unpleasant. It was mineral, more than organic. It was like hot metal, or cold stone… I realized that it had a dulling effect on me, like an anesthetic.

He slipped off me and the feeling of being pulled into some twilight dissipated. He crouched low, free of the tree, the chains broken.

My actions were before thought. I reached out, grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him to lie down. I reached into my bag and took out the first aid. With wads of paper, cloth and gauze I applied myself to stop the bleeding. I did it at arm's length, not because I was afraid of an attack—that fear somehow was not there; but because I didn't want to catch another whiff of his smell; not because it was repulsive. It was the very opposite—it seemed to penetrate the mind and play tricks with it.

A pheromone… like a moth of the night.

"You're wasting your time," he said, distantly. "The wound is very deep; and it won't heal this time."

"You give up too soon."

He let out a little noise that seemed to signify sardonic disagreement. "It was worth it," he spoke again, to the sky. "It was worth it if only to die quickly and without chains."

Suddenly, the wind howled over head and the trees shook.

"I better die soon," he said, "or the storm will catch you in the open and—" He stopped. I saw his eyes move. "My hive has entered orbit."

"Crap…" I let out.

He closed his eyes and willed himself to die. It took only seconds. That was all.

I don't know why I did this, but I started to pull branches over him, to cover him. I knew that the winds would scatter everything and tear it apart. But, somehow, I just had to do it.

I delayed too long with this useless endeavor. The funnel of wind came down so suddenly, that there was no warning. The world crashed around me and a thousand pinpricks and blades pierced my skin. I screamed, the air pressure compressing my lungs. Through the howl around me I heard the thin scream of an insect; a very big and loud insect. Then I saw a veil of light sweep over me. And then there was nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

I woke up slowly as each sense, one by one, dragged me out of the kaleidoscope of hallucinations, pulling me out of a viscous pool of images and sounds that had never belonged to me. As each sense sent signals from the real world, I knew that I was awakening to reality. First it was my hearing. There was a hum around me and then a voice. "She's waking up." It was a woman's voice, and it sounded small. At the same time I became aware of a weight on my neck and chest, pressing down heavily. "She's getting stronger," another voice said and through the wisps of fading delirium I detected resentment.

The pressure on my neck eased and disappeared. I took in an involuntary breath and now I felt cold and warmth on my skin. I shivered. My lips felt dry and the taste in my mouth was metallic. And there was an odor clinging to my nostrils; a mossy smell that verged on sandalwood, but not quite it. Beyond it and around it was a dry smell of something old, like cobwebs in an attic. But there was also the smell of something organic, alive.

I opened my eyes, my eyelids fluttering with uncertainty. The images of dark blues, shadowed indigos and deeply orange glows were blurred, misshapen. They moved and drifted; there was constant movement around me.

My vision cleared inch by inch, from the center out. First, the high domed ceiling made up of luminous shards of blue and orange bloomed above me. Then the perimeter of my sight cleared to reveal far walls of intricate, vein like lattices encasing thin, translucent sheets behind which seemed to flow some liquid glowing orange. I turned my head slightly, painfully at first, seeking the owners of the voice. Two women (human, I determined with relief) came into view. They were both looking down on me. They were clad in indigo ankle long tunics bereft of any decoration or attempt to distinguish the female figure. Their hair was cut very short and both had what looked like a small tattoo at the root of their nose. They were young, both of them and the look in their blue eyes and pale faces displayed cautious hostility.

I moved slightly and realized that I was stretched out on a pallet of some sorts, without a pillow or any linen, however not uncomfortable, the surface firm yet molding. I raised my arms, at first with difficulty. I was not in my uniform, but in a black garb of some sorts, with tight, long sleeves reaching halfway down my hands. Slowly, I turned my head the other way and hoped that this was another bit of hallucination. I saw the back of a rather massive Wraith walking away, disappearing within the coiling shape of a far corridor.

At the periphery of the chamber I saw people—could not tell if they were humans or Wraiths-moving around, walking quickly, passing one another like ghosts. I looked around again-in some odd way it looked like the inside of a glass Tiffany lamp shade. I could swear that I could make out the dragonflies with luminous red eyes.

I sat up and to my surprise there was no pain or weakness.

The two women stepped back.

I looked down the length of my body. I was indeed in a black shift, but it wasn't the simple kind the two women had. It was molded to my figure and it had long strips of satin piping. Rather sexy, if this was a negligee; rather fetching if this was the dress I was going to wear that evening at the Opera… Or, rather grim if this was my funeral dress…

"Where am I?" I asked the cliché question of all those who wake up in strange places surrounded by strange people.

"In a Wraith hive ship," the woman on the right said.

I had guessed that much. The dart swooping over me and the light sucking me up was a hint. "That's what I thought," I said. "The Wraith Baroque décor gave it away."

The two women stared at me with disapproval. Probably covering up for their lack of knowledge about baroque, was my gallows humor thought.

"What's the name of this hive ship?" I played the ignorant fool. Somehow it felt safer at the moment. Certainly, it felt safer than revealing that I was the head scientist on Atlantis.

"Name?" the woman on the left echoed. There was shock in her voice.

"Yes, name. How do you distinguish one hive ship from another? Like, WraithShip Curly, vs. WS Moe…"

They kept staring at me and their disapproval seemed to morph into definite outrage.

I insisted: "Like is this the hive of Wraith Queen Boadicea, as opposed to Wraith Queen Victoria? Or—"

"Silence!" the woman on the left snapped at me and I thought she was going to hit me. "How dare you, human? One does not know the name of a Wraith and one is never spoken!"

The woman on the right smiled thinly: "You'll learn that soon enough, in spite of-" She stopped herself when the other woman threw her a warning look.

"We haven't been introduced," I said brightly, to complete the picture of nit wit, acting like a participant in costume talking to other participants in costume at a SciFi Convention in California. "I am Wraithie Elvira."

The two women were naturally clueless to my shananigans, as they answered with the slightest tinge of politeness: "I am Dara," the woman on the right said.

"I am Moira," the other also announced.

I touched my face and my neck. "I thought I was caught in the wind. I was injured…" My voice trailed in a question.

"Yes, you were badly injured," Moira answered.

"You healed very well, without any scarring," Dara said. I didn't like the tone of her voice.

"It was very costly," Moira added.

I didn't care for Moira's tone of voice either.

I looked at their resentful faces. "Who are you?" But, I knew the answer. I knew where I was. And it was not good.

Dara spoke, tucking her hands inside the sleeves of her tunic like a monk. She pushed up her chin and said: "We are the most privileged of humans. We serve the Wraiths."

"And until you become one of us," Moira said, "you are nothing but waste."

I took in a deep breath. "The chance of me becoming a Wraith worshiper washing Wraith ass is"

Dara's slap across my face stung.

"You will learn to speak politely," Moira hissed at me in a splendid imitation of her masters.

"Fuck you!" That's all that came out of my mouth. I also quickly calculated that since I was not residing at that moment in a cacoon, nor it appeared I had been inducted in the ranks of worshipers, I was destined for something else; not that it made me any more comfortable.

They obviously didn't understand that last word because they stared back at me. But they did understand the tone of my voice. Before I could react Moira produced a thin stick and touched me with the glowing end. A shock of pain went through me. It sent me back reeling and I fell on the pallet.

Dara leaned over me and said: "I don't know what my master plans to do with you, but as far as we're concerned, you came last, so you are the last among us. You will learn to worship your master—"

"Worship him my ass!" I lunged forward, the stick came at me again.

But before it could touch me, a heavy hand pulled me back and the weapon flew out of Moira's hand. There was a hiss behind me and I did not need to look to know that it was a Wraith. The two women retreated and as they did so, they bowed lower and lower. Then they stopped at a good distance from me. They seemed to listen to something I could hear. I tried to turn, but the hand on my shoulder seemed to paralyze my neck muscles.

"Yes, my lord," Dara whispered.

The hand on my shoulder retreated. I turned. There was no one there. I knew Wraith moved fast and with stealth, but this was uncanny. And even more uncanny was that a Wraith had defended me against his own worshipers. At this point, I did not have anything flippant to say.

I asked, although I knew the answer: "How did he move so fast?"

They both looked blankly at me.

"He had his hand on my shoulder and only a second later he was nowhere—" I took in a deep breath as the look on their faces confirmed what I had thought—there had been no physical Wraith there; what I had felt, and what the two women had been listening to was his telepathic presence. It appeared that on their own hive ships, it almost took a physical form; or rather, they could make one's mind 'feel', 'hear' and 'see' them as if it was real.

"They all do that?" I asked, not hiding the awe in my voice.

Strangely that seemed to mollify them. "Just the Lord Commander," Moira said.

_Lord_ Commander… I took on an earnest face: "I didn't know Wraiths used the title Lord…"

Dara tightened her lips. "That's how we address our masters. How they speak to each other is none of your business."

Ah…

"You are to come with us," Moira said, her voice suddenly dull.

She had received another command. Dara leaned at the foot of the pallet and came back up with what looked like a folded black garment. Moira took it from her hands and unfolded it, letting its folds flow to the floor. I stared at it and I must admit consternation—it was a simpler version, but elegant nevertheless, of a Wraith's black, leather coat.

"Good God!" I let out. "That's for me?"

The hostile, grim look on the two faces answered me. Yes, it was for me. They took a while to outfit me—the coat had more than one layer, almost like a Japanese kimono and also had an intricate system of fastening of hooks, snaps and belts to keep it all in place. I had a feeling that having your fancy leather coat come apart while fighting would be quite mortifying for a Wraith. I'll remember that… Once done with the dressing and grooming—my red hair, which seemed to fascinate the two women, had been brushed to a nice shine-and looking like a diminutive Wraith, I was led out of the chamber.

Walking through a hive ship while being passed by Wraiths in long black coats and long white hair, who ignored you was an experience indeed. Entering the command chamber filled with what seemed to be high ranking Wraiths, their commander standing ramrod straight at the console, and not being fed upon; now that was bizarre.

I noticed that Dara and Moira left quickly, after they motioned to me to sit on a bench along the wall. They walked with their head down, their back bent, in a perpetual subservient pose. The more they bent, the more I straightened up, until I was walking as if someone had stuck a sword up my butt.

I sat down for a while, observing my surroundings; but especially observing the Commander. If there was a queen on this hive ship, she did not command from this place. The Commander was, well… a WRAITH, the word all caps. Tall, clad in black, the hair and beard showing the usual vanity and care. He had a swirling tattoo around his left eye—it made me think of the Maori tattoos of New Zealand- and some more markings around the other. His hair was not quite as white as the others and it was very long, falling like ribbons on his shoulders. His right hand, his feeding hand, had intricately worked guards on two of his fingers. And for goodness sakes! He had an earring! I supposed that among Wraiths, he was quite a 'looker.' If such a thing mattered among Wraiths; but then, why would he wear an earring and be so vain, if it didn't matter? To be a Queen's eye candy. I peered at him. Yup, the hive eye candy.

And all this mental chattering and smart-alecky banter was really just mounting hysteria at my situation.

I sat there for a long time. No one paid me any mind. I had no idea what they were doing, other than the obvious, which was to fly the ship. Except for the Commander, all the other Wraiths were in constant motion. That rapid motion and darting about gave me the distinct image of wasps.

I stood up. No one seemed to even notice. I took a few steps towards the Commander. He kept looking over my head. I turned to see—right above where I had sat, covering the whole wall was a red screen with symbols and Wraith writing scrolling on it like flowing water.

I had to speak: "Is her majesty, the queen, in her boudoir?"

My voice, if not my words, had an effect; perhaps one that I should have forgone. All the Wraiths looked up at me, stopping whatever they were doing.

Ah, a snack! I seemed to read on their stony faces.

The Commander looked at me for a few seconds, his hands motionless on the controls. "This hive ship does not have a queen."

"Ah," I muttered, considering what should be my next topic of conversation. I was feeling very hungry; and thirsty to the point of discomfort. Somehow, though, I didn't feel comfortable with bringing up the issue of feeding in the presence of several very able bodied Wraiths who had just taken a good look at me.

"What do you want of me?" I asked instead.

The answer came immediately. "Nothing." And after a pause: "At the moment."

I have a big mouth; that has been amply proven over time. I have been told so often. My big mouth didn't fail me: "In that case, shouldn't you pickle me, or something?"

The answer was so earnestly spoken that under different circumstances I would've considered my interlocutor either very dull, or possessing a very dry humor: "That is not the Wraith way."

Really?

"I don't taste good enough for you, gentlemen?" I cringed at my own words.

Was the Commander about to laugh? While expression on a Wraith's face is hard to describe, their eyes are rather revealing, I was discovering. This one's eyes narrowed a bit and glimpsed sideways, as if trying to hide something.

"We're not in dire need," he answered.

"Nice to know."

I sat back down. I was hungry, my stomach beyond just growling. There was actual pain. I've been in that hive for quite a while. In all this time, there had been no offer of food or drink. Surely, there was human food on board; the worshipers had to be eating! The suspicion began to bloom in my mind that Dara and Moira, the oh, so friendly Wraith worshipers, were forgetting on purpose to feed me. The Wraiths, especially the Commander, could not be bothered to think of such human details; first they were Wraiths, and second they were, well… male. Well, as opposed to their queen, who was female… but, looked like males in drag; while the male Wraiths looked rather confused.

I flinched. The Commander's catlike eyes were on me.

"You are in need," he said and much to my discomfort, he walked around the console and came up to me.

"I am quite fine," I said quickly.

"You are hungry."

Okeedokee… don't mention food; don't mention hunger… "You don't happen to have some crackers, or cereal, or an apple around this impressive ship, do you?"

He looked at me for a second, tilting his head sideways in a manner that made me think of a praying mantis discovering prey. He tightened his lips in what looked like annoyance; or disgust; or cogitation; or all three. I thought I heard a thin hum in my brain, but it quickly went away.

Dara and Moira came running in, but stopped on the threshold. There was a low hum and hiss from the commander which sent them running off. He turned on his heels, the hem of his long coat swirling and marched back to his console, looking rather indignant. I decided that he looked rather graceful.

Dara and Moira returned very quickly, Dara bearing a tray with some odd looking fruits, or legumes, or… whatever they were. It was food. With it was a rather large tankard. I hoped it contained water.

Moira looked me in the eye as she put the tray and tankard on the bench next to me. "I hope you like this," she whispered at me. There was nothing nice in that whisper.

"Thank you," I said, loudly.

"You're taking away our food," Dara hissed from the other side.

"We can't keep feeding you," Moira added.

A regular Abbot and Costello act…

I wanted to answer something cutting, but I resisted. I still didn't know what bothered these two.

I picked up a rounded fruit with green and red scales and I turned it in my hand. "Did you poison this? It could save you having to feed me again."

They straightened up, bowed to me (for the benefit of their master, I am sure) and started to walk away. But, before they actually left, Moira turned and said, very quietly: "If we poison you, another one of us will die for you."

Dara added for good measure: "You are eating the food of three of us. There won't be any until we land. And we don't know when that will be."

I sat there with the fruit in my hand, staring at it. In spite of my flippancy, what those to had told me troubled me. This fruit—or whatever it was—was someone else's portion; if I ate this, someone would go hungry. I did not doubt the truth in that; the frustrated, if not anguished tone in Dara's voice was unmistaken. But, not eating it, as the Wraith was watching me, would generate more questions and probably trouble for the women. I took a nibble. It was sweet and rich; a bit cloying, but it was good. The very first bite abated the sharpest edge of my hunger.

I wondered if it was rude to eat, like a human did, in front of the Wraiths.

And then there was the question of the loo…

The Commander stopped looking at me.

I finished half the fruit and felt full enough—it was very nutritious—to consider saving the rest for Dara and Moira. I took a look in the tankard. It was a whitish, cloudy liquid. I sniffed. A fruity smell. I took a sip. It tasted like coconut. I took a couple of swallows and my thirst was slacked the way no water could. I put it down. More for Dara and Moira.

My mind turned to the very troubling statement about 'another will die for you.' Now, that was both very, very troubling and, well, strange. How had I become such an important person for the Wraiths, that they would kill a worshiper if one crossed me? Or, why had I become such a pet?

There was much I did not know about the Wraiths; there was much all humans did not know about them.

I was filled with conflicting thoughts, fears and feelings. The reality of my situation was sinking in, the uncertainty of what was going on made my feel both angry and humbled—suddenly my great scientific mind and arrogance was doing me no good. The worshippers were reacting to me with a hostility and from some primeval gut that disturbed me and felt I could not cope with it. The Wraiths—the real threat—were as unpredictable as unknown, and certainly more complex than we, humans, wanted to believe or were willing to accept. It was foolish, if not stupid of us to demonize and simplify the Wraiths into a simple, two-dimensional creation that fit our notion of good and bad; right and wrong. For heaven's sake! DNA was a multi-dimensional concept, it was certainly three dimensional—I was getting philosophical here. You combine the human, of the Ancient kind DNA, with some unknown insect that seemed to have a very developed societal structure and you got something very, very complex; and frightening; and… well… fascinating.

I stopped cold in the middle of my thoughts—fascinating?

I looked up. The Commander was looking at me. That golden green gaze on me felt like the touch of antennae. The human in me would've liked to say that that 'touch' was frightening or slimy; or disgusting. But it was not. Frightening, yes, at some level. Otherwise, it was… well… fascinating.

I steeled myself against that feeling and started to mentally hum a song that came to me—sitting by the side of the Bay, watching all the ships go by…

The Wraith took his gaze off me.

Perhaps he found me fascinating as well. Don't be an idiot! Wraiths do not find humans fascinating. It's good food, bad food; can braid my hair; cannot braid my hair. That kind of thing.

But, I am a scientist! I remembered while sitting there in a Wraith coat. I am not fascinated, but fascinated like in curious, interested, in a clinical, scientific way.

I took in a breath. So, if you're interested and a scientist—which you are, and a darn good one—then explore, inquire, observe, examine, experiment and learn. I looked at the Commander, whose face was slightly turned away from me, towards another Wraith. Were they communicating?

I felt a ping in my heart—did they know I was from Atlantis?

Of course they did!

I stood up and walked up to the console. Slowly…

The Commander turned very still and waited, and there was a definite look of preying mantis on his face; yet, preying mantises did not show amusement; and bemusement.

"Commander," I started.

"You show respect for the Wraiths," he said, his voice humming.

I took in a breath. A snarling Wraith is pretty impressive and frightening. But a humming one? That was even more disconcerting.

I stiffened. "The same one shows for a python or a cobra," I answered.

There was something of a smile. He liked my answer.

"If this means you think I am becoming one of your worshipers, I have to greatly disappoint you."

"You addressed me as 'Commander' not 'lord.' A worshiper addresses us as lords." His head snapped a little to his right and peered at me. "Humans from Atlantis do not make good worshippers."

Ah… he knew I was from Atlantis. Not a surprise. And that put a big cold boulder in the pit of the stomach. That meant that he wanted more than me braiding his hair.

"We are your equal in power," I retorted, in my idea of matching a Wraith's legendary arrogance. As the humans of Pegasus would quip with a resigned shrug—the Wraith do not have to explain themselves to you.

"You make excellent enemies," the Commander said.

I considered the statement and the rather finessed compliment, and the differentiation between the Milky Way humans and the herd of Pegasus humans. "Thank you." I had conceded not because I agreed with his assessment of our superiority as a superior brand of human, but because a compliment from a Wraith should be taken at its face value and not tossed back with human philosophy. It was wiser that way; certainly more diplomatic. Especially since this was a Wraith and I was his captive. Prisoner?

I said: "Since you seem to have an appreciation of the Atlanteans that you do not have for the Pegasian (was that a word?), I have to assume that you are aware that Atlanteans do not abandon their people. They will search for me and find me; and you'll have a fight on your hand. We do have a tendency to blow up hive ships."

"We noticed."

Suddenly, I remembered. My subcutaneous transmitter! Although, the hive ships were surrounded with a field that prevented transporting, perhaps they did not prevent signals from a transponder.

"It was damaged," the Wraith answered my thoughts.

"They'll still find me!" I don't know whether I said it so loud out of conviction, or because I wanted to convince myself. "They knew where I was last, they were in orbit and you can bet your—" I scanned him, "-your jewelry that they tracked your hive ship."

The Wraith smiled—whether at my mention of jewelry, or my bravado. Probably both. I stayed myself mentally. Stop flaying like an idiot. Shut up! Be calm and behave like an officer; even if you're not one, and just a scientist. Well, not JUST a scientist; the same as Rodney McKay was not just a scientist.

"We know that Atlantis can track us," he said, casually, sounding not impressed. "Doctor Elena Vries," he added, with an emphasis on the name peculiar to his kind. He seemed to roll the name in his mind. He had bothered to figure out my name. "It is most fortunate that you have joined this hive ship," he added. "You could've been picked up by the rival ship. We were in battle above the planet. Those were our culling grounds and we were defending our rights." He looked over my head to the luminous panel with scrolling letters. "They would not have dared if we had a Queen."

I pondered. This Wraith said nothing that didn't serve a purpose. "Why am I so fortunate?"

"The other hive would've had you for a tasty meal before you even realized where you were." He tilted his head again to observe me; or consider me as a tasty meal. Humans could undress you with their gaze; in an odd way, Wraiths could do the same when considering how delicious you were. Not a good feeling.

I wasn't going to ask why THIS hive didn't want me for their desert.

"If they would've found anything alive or even with meat on the bone," he added looking rather delighted with himself. "If we would not have picked you up, you would not be more than bones."

A thought sparked in my head. "What do you want from Atlantis in return for me?"

"I have to consider that."

"It was not a suggestion," said quickly. "Atlantis does not pay ransom."

He made a slight sound. "You have it wrong."

"Wrong that they would not pay ransom or that I am a hostage for ransom."

"Both. But more importantly, that you are a hostage for ransom. We gave you the gift of life in return for the honor you've shown us."

I was flummoxed. Then I got it. Or thought I got it. "I found a Wraith tied to a tree with his hand cut off—" Did the Wraith in front of me wince? "Was he from this hive?"

There was a long pause. "Yes."

I honored a Wraith. THAT Wraith. I fell silent. How, I had no idea. Because I cut his chains? Because I tried to save him somehow?

"How?" I asked quietly.

"You helped him die; and die with honor, unchained, as a Wraith."

I fell silent again, as the images passed through my mind.

It was he who broke the silence: "You did not approve of what had been done to him."

I looked straight into the Wraith's face. My thoughts circled quietly as I observed that while some Wraiths looked… well, bug like and disconcerting in their alien-ness, this one looked oddly refined and elegant. And tested by time, I could tell. He was arrogant, but the edges of his arrogance were smooth, like worn amber. And that was also the color of his eyes—amber.

My thoughts circled back to what he had said. "Killing Wraiths is part of war and self defense, but torturing and tormenting one to death—" Did he see my shudder? Would he consider that weakness? Showing weakness to a Wraith was not a good idea.

"You understand more than you think," he hummed.

"I've haven't seen much concern for the dead among the Wraith, or the manner of their deaths," I said. "I've seem them discarded like empty husks."

"He was important to us."

The scientist in me awoke. "How so?" I didn't expect an answer. The Wraiths were reticent in many ways.

But, there was an answer. "He was to be a mate to the Queen of a powerful hive that would produce a Queen for my hive. There were long negotiations, for many centuries before we arrived here. This hive would've been our ally for as long as we would've had our Queen, offspring of their Queen. Now, they are enemies, as we broke the contract."

Suddenly I had a hundred questions.

But, he turned to the console. "Later you may ask your questions."

No sooner that he spoke the words and the dynamic duo of Dara and Moira appeared. They bowed to me. "You are to come with us," Dara said.

Moira picked up the tray of food and the tankard with a look of disapproval on her face and they led me down the twisted corridors of pulsating and glowing strangely organic metal. We emerged into a large chamber, so large that I had to look high above my head to see the domed ceiling. It was like a large courtyard surrounded by rising tiers of balconies behind which there were alcoves glowing with blue light. One such balcony and alcove was central, alone up the wall, like the royal box in an opera house. A winding staircase lined by what looked like living lanterns lit the way up to that alcove. Other staircases led to the galleries above.

Moira took me up those stairs, while Dara waited at the foot. At the top, Moira touched an intricate plate and a screen of a gossamer substance drew aside.

What I had called an alcove was a large chamber that seemed to have actually been decorated with symmetrical filigreed glowing blue panels framed by columns through which flowed a glowing orange liquid. Against the wall facing the balcony was a wide bench with arms. On either side there were two additional benches, smaller, recessed in the wall.

"You sit here," Moira said. "That is your place." She pointed at the smaller bench.

There was no question of the resent and jealousy in her eyes. She practically slammed the tray and tankard on the floor. She then helped me take off the leather coat and left me again in that rather sensually soft tunic. I was left sitting on the bench—kind of firm yet soft under me—with my arms draped over the arms. I watched her kneel in the middle of the floor and touched the floor with her palm. I looked up to the ceiling, my gaze attracted by the sudden round glow of blue light. Slowly, a cone of luminous blue vapor descended from the light, spreading out until it touched the floor in a wide circle, while columns of darker blue rose within the cone.

"The lord Wraith has commanded that we allow you to clean."

"I'm fine here," I said, firmly. I figured that cleansing had something to do with that blue cone of light.

Moira rounded on me. "Don't make difficulties!" She pulled out the rod. "I've had enough of you!"

Apparently attracted by the sound of her voice, Dara came running.

"Get her here!" Moira snarled.

Before I could react, Dara was on top of me and the painful sting of Moira's stick shot through my body. My limbs went weak and then unresponsive. They lifted me roughly and dragged me to the cone of light, while pulling off the tunic on the way. They shoved me into the circle of the columns and blue cone and I fell to the floor while crying out mutely.

But, what I felt next was like a wave of tranquility washing over me. Droplets of cool light circled me and touched my skin, a pleasurable tingle massaging me. I let out a sigh and slowly rose to let the mist cover me in a sparkling blue shimmer. I felt cleansed and good. I felt my heart beat slow down to a pleasant rhythm, my breath content.

But, it was short. Moira's hands pierced through the mist and grabbed me. I did observe though, at some subconscious level, that she let her hands linger in the mist. A forbidden pleasure for her…

They clad me in a new tunic, equally soft and sensual and placed me on the bench.

"Happy?" Dara asked, the bite in her voice.

I didn't bother to answer and turned my head to look over the balcony's edge into the neighboring alcoves. Their arrangement was less elaborate, they were a lot smaller, but they contained the same throne like benches and glowing lights. The impression was that of a honeycomb.

As I looked, a thought came to me. I decided to apply all that crap I had learned in various leadership and conflict resolution courses and management training. I was going to confront the issue with Dara and Moira head on. I was going to bring it out in the open.

I turned to them.

"Dara," I started. "Moira…" They looked at me. "I don't know if this is the right form of address, I don't want to offend you."

They met me with silence.

"I am not here of my own choice," I continued. "I don't know why I am here, and I certainly don't know why I am not dead and I am not either just a pile of bones stripped of all flesh on the planet below, or a dried up husk on the hive's floor."

More silence.

Right. Go on. "Whatever is going on, I have no idea. But if I offended you, or caused you problems, I know nothing about it."

Still silence, but different somehow.

"If I have done something wrong, or I am causing you hurt and problems, please tell me."

Dara swallowed hard, opened her mouth, but closed it.

Just at that moment, the Commander appeared at the top of the stairs and entered the alcove. Moira and Dara skittered away from me to the edges of the room and bowed deeply. I let out my breath—if they had wanted to say something to me, and Dara seemed ready to do so, the Wraith's appearance had stopped them; and the moment went away.

Moira and Dara went down to their knees and touched the floor with their forehead as he Commander passed them. He seemed not to see me, or rather he knew I was there and there was no need to look. As he neared the center of the alcove, my attention was drawn by a sudden rise in noise around me; a soft humming and rustling. Through the intricate workings of the balcony rail I saw a legion of worshipers stream into the courtyard below and disperse up staircases to the tiers of alcoves. The lower tier of alcoves lit with blue lights and I saw the telltale white hair of the Wraiths and their black forms. Worshipers attended to them, reminding me of worker ants attending, in some symbiotic arrangement, sleek and vain wasps. The sight fascinated me.

When I finally took my eyes off the scene, I found that Dara and Moira were taking off the Commander's outer garments to reveal that he wore underneath black leggings, boots and a short tunic.

I wasn't sure I wanted to see the next step—a Wraith stripped to his naked greatness. Yet… What the heck! But, before I could get used to the thought, Dara and Moira produced a sheet of lustrous black fabric and draped it over and round him as he shed the rest of his clothes and stepped into the cone of light where he became nothing more than a shadow inside the luminous blue mist.

He was there for a long time. In the meantime the chamber became silent, and I could see here and there, Wraiths seated in the semidarkness of their alcove, their head bent; perhaps asleep.

When the Commander came out, he was already in a floor length black tunic with long sleeves, hemmed in silver.

The Wraith at home. Le Wraith chez soi. Who would've thought…

I noticed that his walk was now more feline and his face seemed luminous. While the mist had done nothing to my glow, it appeared that it added sparkle to his complexion.

He sat down, his hands draped over the arms of his bench and turned his head to me.

"Shall we—as you humans put it—dine together? I believe that is a human custom."

Oh, crap! That was the only thing I could think of.

Moira brought another tray and put it next to me. More fruit.

Perhaps I should've expected what came next. But, when it actually happened, or rather was about to happen, it shocked me to the point that I could not abide that was actually happening.

Two male worshipers appeared in the entry to the alcove leading between them a young, tall human who seemed to be in a daze, his eyes glassy. He looked strong and healthy; he looked like a sheep being led to a waiting wolf.

They led him to the Wraith and made him kneel, not to humiliate him, I thought, my clinical thought process rising like a defending shield, but so that his chest would be at the level of the seated Wraith's hand.

The two male worshippers, Dora and Moira turned their back. Their neck was bent.

Perhaps I was expected to follow suit and turn away as well. But, I did not. I would not do what the worshipers did, although they were probably wiser than me. Instinct told me that it would be deadly for me to turn. Sixth sense told me that I needed to show strength.

In reality, even if I wanted to react, I could not. I was transfixed. Frozen.

The Commander put his hand on the man's chest. He didn't slam it, as I've seen in videos. He just placed it on the bare skin firmly. From where I sat I could only see the man's back, his head held high, and the Wraith's face, tilted forward over his victim. There was a moment of silence, like a deep breath, like the delicious moment before savoring the pleasure that would come. And then he purred. Yes, he purred. At first just a low murmur, then it got louder, like a great cat, a soft snarl behind the purr.

I did not move. I simply stared into the Wraith's face and I was only marginally aware that the man in front of him was thinning out and the hair was turning white, attached to the skull as if to a mummy.

And then it stopped. The Commander took his hand away from the man who slowly started to topple. But before it could hit the ground, the two male worshipers quickly covered him, bundled him up and removed him. Moira rushed forward, kneeled and tenderly—yes, tenderly—wiped his hands with a white cloth. I saw the marks of blood on the towel. They left quickly, leaving me with the Wraith, deep silence all around us.

Every fiber of my body wanted to scream. But, the outer shell—my muscles and my skin—were frozen. I still held the fruit in my hand. Mechanically, in an act of defiance of my own horror and absolute fear, I took a bite of it.

The Commander looked at me. "You are strong," he said quietly.

I started to tremble.

"Shall we continue our conversation?" he said. He sounded content.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

I took a bite of the fruit, more to steady my shaky nerves and body than from need of food. By holding on to that fruit with my teeth I hoped to cover the tremor of my hand. I took the bite and chewed slowly. I lowered my hand with the fruit in my lap, put my other hand over it, and so braced I forced myself to 'continue the conversation.' The place was now utterly silent, like a giant creature fallen asleep. Could I hear its breath?

The Commander waited patiently. I searched my heart for a while, as he seemed unconcerned with my long silence. I have never seen a Wraith feed or a human die in such a fashion in front of my eyes; not in real life, not so close to me. This was not in battle, this was not part of culling; this was a leisurely feeding after a long hard day at the office. I looked down on my half eaten fruit: the same as I was eating my fruit. May be this Wraith was different, but he had not been brutal or violent about it. There was an odd slowness and care about it, a quiet savoring of the delicacy, a sensual purring to display the appreciation.

So, now, Doctor Vries, do you hate this creature? Do you find him abhorrent, repulsive and vile? Do you just want to stand up, tell him to go to Wraith Hell and just give your name and serial number?

I searched inside me, while he watched me, deeper and deeper, burrowing into my very gut. It had not been a criminal act; it had not been an act of evil and malice; if this had been just 'dining' together in the ways of the human social behaviour, then it was breathtaking in its lack of awareness that it was anything evil or un-natural. If it had been a test to see my resolve—why, that was another question—then it was a particularly cold blooded and ruthless one.

So, did I hate and loathe him? I glanced at the Wraith sitting there, elegant and quiet. No. Absolutely not. Did I fear him? Oh, greatly, indeed. Not because of the act itself, but because of the complex intelligence behind it. A very alien intelligence that I found myself very much wanting to understand.

_Re-start the conversation; but, do not ask about what just happened. _

I was determined to make this a conversation between equals—well, sort of equals; not between captor and captive. I was not going to whine.

"We were talking about the Wraith I met on the planet," I started. "You mentioned how important he had been and why."

The Commander nodded slowly. His amber green gaze made me suddenly think of the flutter of a big Amazonian moth with velvety wings. He is part insect—I caught myself.

"You mentioned that the contract was considered broken," I continued, "with the death of this Wraith. Could you not offer another in his place?"

His right hand tapped the arm of his bench, the finger guard making a soft clicking noise. "No. It had to be this particular Wraith."

"Really? His good looks? He captured the Queen's heart in a joust?"

The moth wings fluttered silently over me. "Captured her heart?"

"A human expression that describes someone falling in love, winning someone's love for… uh… mating."

The Commander watched me silently; he did not have a clue what I was talking about. I took in a breath. "Aren't male Wraith attracted to female Wraith? And the other way?"

He seemed to ponder.

_Think insect_. "Aren't there chemicals or scents that are emitted to attract for mating?"

"Ah… that." Did he just shift on that bench? "When necessary, yes. That is how the Queen takes complete possession of the Wraith-mate."

It must be magic being a Wraith in love… I suppressed the smile breaking on my face. "What does this… uh… pheromone, as we call it, do to the Wraith-mate?"

Oh, he shifted again in his seat. "It triggers the necessary physical and chemical reaction to produce the matching DNA seed. After that he has no other function but to mate; and knows of no other function."

I stared back at him. I do hope I'm not emitting any pheromones right now, because this Wraith looks ready! His eyes were narrowed, and green replaced by gold in his eyes. Okay, on to the next question: "Why was this Wraith so special and why can't another take his place."

"He was a very rare Wraith and we were very fortunate to have him join my hive long time ago in anticipation of finding a Queen to mate. There are many hives without Queens, and to have a Wraith that is wanted by a Queen to produce another Queen, it is rare and fortunate."

More questions. "I would think that a Queen would not want to produce a rival Queen."

"It would not be a rival Queen. It would be an alliance between major hives." He moved his head sideways with a quick jerk. "Of course, alliances break and sometimes a Queen kills the one who made her."

"You could not take his place?" I bit my lip—perhaps that had been a very rude thing to ask.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't have the DNA. The Queen recognized its existence in the Wraith. She found it… uh… attractive, as you called it."

Two questions now. And the Commander was uncharacteristically willing to answer. I am sure that there was a place where he wanted me to get with this questioning. He was manipulating the conversation in his strange, feline way. "Two questions," I said. "First, how does she recognize it, and second, what is it that she recognizes in the DNA?"

"You are a scientist," he mused. "You think like one, indeed. That is good." He nodded to himself. "The Wraith that possesses that kind of DNA emits his own distinct chemical—what did you call it?"

"Pheromone." Insects emit it. I didn't say that last bit.

"—Pheromone, that the Queen can detect and recognize. As for what she recognizes—it's the DNA radical that is very rare and precious among the Wraith that produces a Queen when mating: it contains the female chromosome; but not just any female chromosome. It's the human female DNA."

I stared at him. "Ah…" I took another bite from the fruit; not that I really wanted it, but it gave me time to consider the implications. "Wraith are very able manipulators of DNA. Why can't you manipulate it? If you need female human DNA, you've got the worshipers."

He looked slightly disgusted. "We would never use the DNA of our inferiors. If it were a worthy enemy, yes; even a defeated one. Also, it's not just any human DNA. It must contain a specific Ancient human gene. None of the humans of Pegasus have this gene—you see, the DNA of the Pegasus humans has been modified by the Ancients to be worthless to us."

"How did your Wraith get that gene?"

"The DNA mutation and splitting game of chance when we evolved to be Wraiths."

"Too bad," I mused, not quite sure what to say, "that you don't have it." And the words flew out of my mouth. Again. "Although I can't imagine a Queen not wanting you even without the DNA."

He tilted his head again and peered at me.

Changing subjects. "Do you know who killed the Wraith?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Rest." His attention moved away from me and he bent his head, the long white tresses falling like a curtain around his face, shadowing it from my gaze.

I waited for a while and watched the Wraith sleep; if he was indeed sleeping, or just in a deep resting mode. It was fascinating to watch him, so alien and yet made so attractive by his intelligence; to say nothing of his long white hair, strange eyes and, in human terms, very nicely turned out in their black outfits. My conversation with him had been more interesting that I've had with many humans.

I looked over the balcony rail. It was quiet and still, the lights dimmed to the point where one could only see vast shadowed shapes. I turned the fruit in my hand. An idea came to mind. I put all the food on one tray, balanced the two tankards in my one hand like a fraulein at a beer garden in Bavaria and quietly crossed to the staircase. I looked over my shoulder at the Commander. He was motionless, although instinct told me that he was tracking me. Slowly, as quietly as I possibly could, took the coiling staircase down to the floor of the chamber, the soft light of the lanterns lengthening my shadow on the steps. At the bottom of the stairs I looked towards the entrance at the other side from which I had seen the worshippers come in to tend to the Wraiths.

When I reached the threshold of the entrance I hesitated. It led into a narrow passageway, the walls looking like the ribbed surface of an esophagus. They were ribbed and pale, translucent, yet concealing of what was behind them. I stepped in and slowly walked down its length, my way illuminated by the glow from within the walls. As I passed niches and branching corridors I could see vague forms move behind the opalescent walls. From their size I concluded they were humans; worshippers. Somehow I realized that I was moving along a radial corridor, like the spoke of a wheel, towards the center. A distant hum, that quickly became discernable voices. I moved in that direction until the voices stopped. I stopped as well, and waited. Then I thought I heard a chanting. I listened—it was like the chanting of monks. I started to walk again, the corridor getting wider.

Suddenly I emerged in a circular chamber with low ceiling, the walls of the same translucence and glow as the corridors. A large group of men and women segregated on opposite sides of the chamber, were kneeled, sitting on their heels, their heads bowed, arms raised above their head, hands clasped. They were chanting softly.

I took a step towards the middle of the chamber.

The chanting stopped, the arms came down and the faces turned to me in stony silence. I realized that I may have done a very foolish thing. Absurdly, I now wished for the Commander's presence; or the presence of any Wraith that would control the worshippers. I swallowed the cold bile of fear and stretched out my hands holding the tray and tankards.

With my voice a bit rattling, I started to speak: "I've brought these. I know it was a sacrifice for you to provide this food. Some of you went hungry because of it. Please, take it."

From the back of the women's group rose one figure. Moira.

"I meant no harm," I said as quietly as I could. "And I don't know what harm I've brought with me."

A man stood up. He was older than the others; he was quite old. Or may be he had been fed upon.

"From where does this food come?" I asked, to start.

Moira spoke. "When the masters go culling on a planet, they take us with them. We forage and take what is left for ourselves." She was silent for a second. "Often there are months between cullings, or going down to a planet. Often we go hungry. Sometimes we die of starvation. The planet you came from was our last foraging. We don't know when the next will come."

"I understand," I whispered.

"We weren't able to get much this time."

I nodded.

"From which planet are you?" the elder asked. He seemed to me to be a leader. "You do not appear to be from the planet the masters last culled, where the winds kill."

I hesitated. "I am not from this galaxy."

"That means nothing to us. Which hive do you worship?"

"I am not a worshipper."

"You cannot fool us. You are greatly favored by the Lord Wraith of this Hive. You take our place in his favor. We are at risk now."

Oh, screw you! "I am from Atlantis, the City of the Ancients. We come from the galaxy of the Ancients, before they came here." So, there. "We are the humans who whip the Wraith ass!"

Silence fell; but it was a different kind of silence. It lacked that cold hostility. It was still reticent. Still not friendly or welcoming. But it didn't threaten anymore.

The older man spoke: "It is as prophesized. The descendants of the Ancients shall awaken the Wraiths and terror and destruction shall descend upon us. You have done so. You are like the lord Wraiths—we fear you and we bow to you."

Suddenly, everyone rose and bowed. I felt a tingle down my spine.

"And if faced with a choice, whom do you choose—the Atlanteans or the Wraiths?"

"The Wraiths," the elder answered. "Because we must. We have been delivered to them by your kind."

What could I answer to that? "We battle the Wraiths."

"They cannot be vanquished. It has been prophesized, and so far, it all came to be."

I fell silent. This was not the time to start a revolt.

Moira came forward and took the tray from my hand. She went around behind the group of women. It is then that I noticed a group of children. She gave them the food and silently, the children started to eat. They were ravenous. My heart beat painfully in my chest.

The older man was now in the center of the chamber. "For all your power and the light of the Ancients, you know so little of the Wraiths."

Slowly, I lowered myself to the floor and sat down. Cross legged. Kneeled and sitting on my heels first would be too painful, second, it looked to be a position of subservience. "Tell me what is your accusation."

They sat down, same as I did, crossed legged.

"You were brought to the hive at death's door, wounded and torn apart by the winds. But because you have shown honor to a Wraith and to that particular Wraith—"

"Yes, I know about that particular Wraith. The Commander told me."

There was a flutter of whispers through the chamber.

"He told you?" the old man echoed.

"Yes." I looked at his face. "Is there significance to that? I am a scientist, and he knows that. He answered my questions."

I could see his thin chest rise as he took in a breath. "You are indeed highly regarded by the Wraith."

"She is of Atlantis," Moira interjected.

"Do you know who tormented the Wraith?" I asked.

The old man shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"Tell me what happened to me after I was taken from the planet," I prompted.

"Because of the honor you showed the Wraith," the old man continued, "the Lord Wraith—"

"The Commander?"

"Yes. The Lord Wraith gave you the gift of life two fold so that you would heal."

"He did?" Why did that make me feel giddy? The gift of life; from a Wraith?

The old man was silent for a few seconds. "To do that he fed upon four of us. I am one of them, though he left me within a year of my death."

I felt cold. Very cold.

"And tonight, he fed upon another human—not one of our number— long before he would have a need because of the life he gave you."

I was trembling again. "Oh, God… no…"

I don't know what happened—perhaps it was the fear and emotions I had bottled all this time, perhaps it was the deep sorrow that entered my soul; perhaps it was the deep regret for what had happened, I being an unwitting instrument; may be because I felt so helpless to redress or change one moment of what had happened; I don't know. Sobs rose in my chest and tears welled in my eyes. And I wept. I wept tears of grief and misery.

I looked up, lost for words, my face wet with tears. "Forgive me—"

I didn't finish my sentence.

A red flash flared behind the walls and a tremendous roar shook the air. The chamber tilted violently and I tumbled on my side. A high pitched siren rang in my ear. I tried to right myself but before I could get a toe hold on the tilting floor, a dozen or so masked Wraith soldiers rushed in and herded the worshippers into a side tunnel, using their long stun guns as battering rams. A faced Wraith in long black coat came in their wake. At the sight of me he swerved around. He motioned with his head and hand at me.

I didn't wait for the words and followed him out of the chamber and into the corridor. He walked fast, as the world seemed to explode around us, red and blue flashes crossing the walls. I had to run after him, bouncing against the walls and tripping as the floor below me pitched and rolled with the blasts. There was a smell of something organic burning. The ship. Here and there, the translucent panels had broken and the liquid behind them had poured out in viscous rivulets, hardening in glassy mounds.

I lost track of the corridors and chamber we crossed until we emerged in the command room.

The Commander stood at his console in complete calm, while the other Wraiths moved around him as if nothing untoward was happening. As I walked in, probably looking disheveled and in my black under tunic, he looked at me with a citric yellow gaze. "Did you commiserate with the worshippers?" Was there disappointment in his voice?

I looked him in the eyes and I felt a singular sensation, one I could not describe as I have never felt it before. "It seems that I am worth quite a lot of lives."

He considered what I said for a few seconds. "You and your fellow humans won't be worth anything at the end of this battle."

"Meaning what?"

"I will save my hive by surrendering all my human trove to the other hive. They have a Queen." He half smiled; as a sardonic smile as I have ever seen. "The Queen who would've borne a Queen for us. Her price to let this hive see another day. We are negotiating." His eyes looked over my head.

I turned and saw the screen with running red letters. Behind it was the image of a wraith. A Queen. She had red hair and the strong, large features that marked her kind. There was no voice communication. But they were communicating, her mind to his, and his to hers. Wraith mind to Wraith mind; Marine to Marine.

It went on for a long while, meantime the sounds of battle lessening. And then, the Commander closed his eyes for a second. The Queen's image disappeared.

"Negotiations over?"

"Yes." He seemed lost in thought, although that didn't exactly describe the Wraith's thinking process. I believe a better description would be that he was navigating the convoluted corridors of his cunning mind. "All the humans on my ship for the other hive. And half of the culled humans in the future to keep peace between our two hives." His eyes were darker.

"Are you an ally or a vassal?"

He made a derisive, sardonic little sound. "I keep my hive."

I fell silent. All humans. Every single human life. I now stared death in the face. I thought crossed my mind, a desperate, very emotional thought. I caught his eyes. "I ask only one thing," I said. "I'd rather die at your hand—I mean," I quickly correct, "I'd rather that you shot me than be fed upon. I honored your Wraith so that he did not die of starvation and chains; I ask the same for myself."

His gaze slipped over me. "I have no intention of giving them you."

"Why not?"

"You said you'd rather die at my… uhm… hand. I wouldn't want to miss that."

I looked at him with what must've been an indignant smirk.

He let out a little sound that seemed to be a laugh. "Sorry. Just Wraith humor."

I have to admit that I started to breathe again. But, my heart was heavy and the prospect of living another day without being fed upon by a Wraith gave me an acrid feeling. The others—the women, the men and the children—

"What will happen to the other humans on your ship? Will the other hive feed on them?"

"They are worshippers. Not at first. And only if the hive runs out of other humans."

"Why are you saving me? Other than I'd make a tasty meal for you that you don't want to share."

If Wraith had eyebrows, his would've gone up at this point.

"Human humor," I quipped.

"You have something that you can give me and that I need." He sounded threatening and dangerous at this point. His voice had acquired the echo of a hiss.

"I will give nothing unless it includes the lives of your worshippers."

He smirked. Wraiths do smirk very well. "Don't waste your time with them."

"The gift of life came from them. Three of them, four if one counts the one left alive within a breath of his death."

"Ah, they told you. Of course." He looked me in the eyes. "You asked me who tormented the Wraith you honored."

"Yes…"

"Only one group of humans use the method of cutting off a Wraith's feeding hand. The worshippers."

I felt cold.

"Do you still want to save them?"

"Yes."

The ship rocked.

I was thinking fast and furious. "Commander," I drew his attention back to me. "I am from Atlantis. For my life and of the worshippers, Atlantis will be willing to provide you what you need to take cover from the hive fighting you." I had no idea what I was saying.

He didn't answer for a while. "The worshippers caused me to break the contract. There will be war between my hive and the Queen's until one of us is destroyed in spite of a temporary alliance. It is temporary, believe me, regardless of how many humans I give her." His eyes were now amber. Deep amber. "However," he said very softly, more like a purr, "if I honor the contract, we will all be saved."

I stared back at him. I didn't ask the next logical question. I knew that he would give the answer without me voicing it. Because that is where he had been heading all along.

\

He said, his voice almost melodious: "You have the female Ancient gene, Elena Vries. The Wraith you honored recognized it and told us when we came in orbit. I detected it the moment I gave you the gift of life. The pheromone, as you call it." He observed me as he said: "You are strong. Very strong. Almost as strong as a Wraith."

I was petrified. The implications and ramifications did not bear thinking. To say nothing that I was emitting a pheromone that attracted Wraiths. No wonder, on Earth, whenever I went to a picnic all wasps and mosquitoes and ants would come for me.

"There are two ways in which I can acquire this DNA and attach it to mine," he continued. "The first way is to feed on you; a special feeding to ensure that it does not get destroyed or mutated in the process."

I recoiled; although, I reasoned quickly, given that I had just taken three lives for mine, somehow that would be poetic justice.

"But, taking it without your agreement is not the way of the Wraith for this valuable and precious gene."

"Bad karma?"

"You would have to give it to me willingly."

"And joyfully?"

"That is not required."

Good God! And—another thought flashed through my mind—become instrumental in creating another very powerful hive? One that would happily be culling and grazing the human pastures? It was like giving the enemy the weapon to kill you. It was.. it was treason!

Perhaps he read my thoughts; perhaps he followed the same logic through his mind.

"We would be allied with Atlantis and we would not cull the humans under the protection of Atlantis."

"I will have to consult with Atlantis. With the condition that the worshippers on your ship will be safe until I have a decision."

"There isn't time to consult with Atlantis. And I cannot take that chance either to send you back to Atlantis, or open communication with them. Our mistrust of Atlantean humans is equaled by your mistrust of us."

"Naturally."

I received something of a snort in reply.

"How long before you have to fulfill your promise to her?" I asked.

"Shortly. In Wraith terms. But quite a while in human terms."

"I would like to speak to the worshippers."

He nodded sharply with a a little bow. "As you wish."

I hesitated. He had been too quick to agree; too accommodating. Why did I feel that what he had proposed was not what he really wanted?

Why did I think that? Because in the words of Ronon Dax—he's Wraith.

One of the Commander's officers accompanied me to where the worshippers were—a miserable chamber sealed off by vein-like twisted bars. They were huddled together, silent and patient of their fate. The Wraith left me in front of the bars and walked away Wraith walked away. His display of discretion reinforced my feeling that the Commander wanted me to speak to the worshipers.

I went to the heart of the matter. "The Commander—your master—told me that it was one of your number who cut that Wraith's hand."

The old man—or rather the man who had given me part of his life—came around and stood in front of his flock. "Yes. It was one of us. That one is dead. Before he could cut off the hand that fed upon him, the Wraith had drained his life to the point of no return. He had enough left in him to do the deed."

"And who stuck him to the tree?"

"The others."

"What others?"

"The nine women with him."

"Why?" I exclaimed. "It isn't as if the Wraiths, your masters, never feed on you!" Then I said, my voice quite harsh. "Tell me what is going on here."

The old man came close to the bars. "Our lords don't feed on us, if we serve them well and don't incur their wrath." His voice went down. "When a Wraith is sent as a mate to a Queen, twenty worshipers are sent with him. All women. He feeds upon ten and the Queen feeds upon the others."

"That's a bit over the top…"

"The mating of Wraiths requires much life."

"It must be something to behold," I quipped. And reconsidered. "On second thought, never mind."

"But, why did you cut his hand?"

"It was no more than what the Queen would do to him at the end. That is how she ensures his death."

I froze on my spot.

"The Queen kills him?" I echoed numbly.

"To ensure that he would not go elsewhere for an alliance and set up a rival Queen."

"Can the Queen renege on her contract with this hive?

"That is why the Mate Wraith feed upon ten humans. This way, the Mate Wraith would survive until the new Queen is installed in the hive."

"Very slow death…"

I felt my head spinning with the implication of what I've heard—giving the Commander the Ancient female gene would not save the worshippers; or anyone else. First, the twenty worshippers—I looked at the women—would still have to be fed upon. And then, there was no escape for the Commander—he would die. It would not be just another Wraith, but the Commander of this hive and with him this hive would die. I was convinced that the Queen would keep her side of the treaty—that is to release her offspring Queen to take over this hive—only if she faced a battle with the Commander's powerful hive. Without the Commander—this Commander—there would be no hive to claim its rights; there would be no new Queen and no hive.

And the Commander knew that. Then…

I had a parting shot for the worshippers. "When you killed that Mate Wraith, you exchanged 20 lives for everyone's life. Now you will all be dead one way or another; or given to the other hive as a payment for the survival of this hive for a while longer. The survival of this hive will then depend on the Commander giving the other hive half of the human he culls. That means he will cull twice as many humans." I took in a deep breath. It was unfair to blame the miserable looking humans staring back at me with horror in their eyes, but I could not abstain. "Did any of you think this through? Or did the Wraith not only take your will and honor as humans, but also your intelligence?"

They shrunk in front of me. The feeling of anger was replaced by one of pity and sorrow again; and I remembered the words, 'forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.'

In some ways, that applied to the Wraiths.

I turned on my heels. I marched back into the corridor, determined to confront the more complex element of this equation—the very cunning Commander. As I barreled around the turn, I almost knocked over the Wraith who had escorted me there. He gave me a strange grin.

"I would like to speak to your Commander. Please take me to him."

The Wraith bowed his head. "You are always free to speak with him." He was definitely grinning now. "Especially when you come to the right conclusion."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

I had always thought of a hive ship as a cave-like, labyrinthine existence, all inward, towards the heart of the structure where a Queen would reside in dark and dank claustrophobia in spite of the vastness of the ship.

That is why I was startled when the Wraith led me into a large chamber that seemed located somewhere in the front of the ship, three sides of it ceiling to wall panoramic view of the planet below us and the moons and stars beyond. The walls were curved and elaborately constructed with columns and lattices from a hard and glossy organic material that looked very much like amber, except it had a blue and green hue. The floor was from the same material, burnished to a mirror surface, the skies reflecting into it upside down. There were two throne like benches, on the opposing walls, a glowing panel of gold liquid behind them. On the far side was a console with softly gleaming lights.

However, most interesting—besides the Commander who stood at the transparent walls with the galaxy behind him, all bedecked in a bluish black ankle length coat with elaborate silver and embossing—was the column of deeply blue luminescent liquid that glowed like the heart of a sapphire. The beauty of that light took my breath away. The column rose from a plinth of that blue amber and ended in a crown that rose to the ceiling.

Then there was that smell, like nowhere else in the ship—like heavy scented exotic flowers of unknown names and spices of unknown worlds.

The light, the view, the imposing presence of the Commander as he stood alone and very likely the scent derailed me from my purpose for a brief, hesitating moment.

"What is your answer, Elena Vries?" He came around the blue column and stood in front of him, the glow behind him like a halo around his white hair.

"What you proposed is not a valid plan. It will still require twenty lives and it will also end with your death."

The amber of his eyes was touched by pinpoints of blue light. "I am touched by your concern for my fate." There was definite sarcasm in the voice.

"Actually, Commander, that would be the only good thing about your plan," I shot back. "Your fate concerns me only in that you will not be there to ensure that our agreement is respected and to prevent a powerful alliance between two queens who will feel no obligation to carry out the terms of the deal you and I struck."

"You think like a Wraith. That is most gratifying."

I offered a Wraith-like snort; a very good imitation, if I may say so myself.

"So, Elena Vries, you do not accept my proposal."

"No. And you knew that, Commander."

He inclined his head in open acknowledgement.

"I will not agree, Commander, to any plan that falls short even by one life."

"Such a thing might not be possible."

"Then there's no deal." As I spoke these words, I was acutely aware that he could hit me over the head at any time and take what he wanted. "Let me tell you exactly the terms."

"You speak in the name of Atlantis?"

"Yes," I said with all the certitude I could put in my voice. Let's hope so… It became obvious to me that the reason the Commander did not just feed on me at this point, was because he also wanted an alliance with Atlantis, an ace up his sleeve that would trump many other alliances he could come up with. Hoping that I got it right, I continued with my most Doctor Vries arrogant and self confident voice. "These are the terms. The lives of your worshippers are preserved, and as you already suggested, your hive will not cull the planets under the Atlantis protection—"

"The planets that are currently with ties to you. If they are enemies—like the Genii—" he grinned, "they are ours."

"Quite frankly, I'd love to see the Genii culled, especially a certain faction, but, no, the Genii are included."

"Very well…" He nodded slowly. "I might not, however, guarantee the life of the worshipers long term."

Such honesty in a Wraith… "Why do you have worshippers?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He seemed to shrug. "A symbol of power. It shows success. A weak, starving hive that cannot obtain its share of culling, does not have worshippers."

"Fine. I assume you can get other worshippers."

"Many come willingly; and those who do not, shortly become willing."

"If so, I would ask that the worshippers you have now be released in the care of Atlantis."

"You are very wrong about them. They will not go gladly." He looked aside. "But, these are corrupted. I do not want them. They are yours. Although, if I am to discard them, it's a pity to just give them to you when there are starving hives that would become my vassals for the price of these humans. Also, other humans would be taken to replace them for feeding the Wraiths." He seemed to shrug. "As you wish. It doesn't seem to shift the equation."

I winced. Wraiths had to feed; and if it wasn't these wretched humans, readily available to be passed around, then there would be others. Yes, it did not shift the equation. Not really…

"These are all your terms?" the Commander interrupted my musings.

"No. Also, any plan must ensure your survival. Not because I care what happens to you, but because you are needed to ensure that these terms are met. Furthermore, if my understanding is correct, with a Queen you will be able to form powerful alliances. Your allies will have to abide by the terms of your alliance with Atlantis."

"—as long as the hives allied with me abide by the terms. We live and act by different rules than humans."

Ah, a fine point. But, give and take. "Understood. Bottom line, everybody stays alive and goes home."

"If I agree with these terms, you will provide what I need to obtain a Queen for my hive."

"Yes." Why did I feel that I walked into a Wraith's web?

He brightened up, which included a very green glimmer in his eyes and a very toothy smile. He looked like a Wraith's version of a kid in a candy store. "I agree with your terms!" he exclaimed.

I fell very silent.

He took a step forward. I could see the details of his opalescent face. I wondered if Wraith had any games and if they were similar to chess? Because this Wraith was playing that game very, very well. I was being check-mated. He announced: "I have the plan that will achieve both our purposes."

"I assume it involves my Ancient gene."

"Of course." He stood in front of me looking like a purring cat. Or preying mantis. "It is a matter of small nuisance to you, just a passing inconvenience with a great benefit for both our races. It is not something you would miss." He stepped up to the glowing blue column and put his feeding hand on it, his fingers splayed out, as if to draw the energy from it. "This, Doctor Vries, is as ancient as the Wraiths. I believe it was designed by the Ancients and we took it. This is where a Queen is created. It's where the mingled DNA of the Wraith and Ancient cells that would be fused from you and me, creates a Wraith Queen."

I felt a sickening plop in my stomach. Cells? What cells?

His hand slowly moved down the length of the column. "It's been on this ship empty for thousands of years."

"What is your plan, then?" I asked as coolly as I could. I had a feeling that it had its unpleasant parts.

His face was turned to the blue glow, the light penetrating the iris of his eye, making it look like crystal, "We are running out of time," he hissed.

"Let me rephrase that, Commander—what is different from the previous plan?"

"You will provide your entire DNA and essence." His head whipped around and his gaze lashed at me. "You will have to trust a Wraith, Elena Vries."

His hand came at me so quickly that I did not even have time to flinch. The tip of his finger guards ripped the silk of my tunic. At the very moment his fingers gripped, I became numb, my mind winding down in a spiral. I thought I heard myself say: "I want to feed upon ten Godiva chocolate cheese cake slices," my voice as if a soundtrack on slow.

#####

I clamped my jaws against the expectation of the brutality of a Wraith feeding on a human and in anticipation of the horror and revulsion of a roach-like nibbling and crawling on my skin.

But none of what I had anticipated or feared came to pass. Instead, I felt his hand settle on my skin like a gentle moth, soft and silky in its touch, its wings fluttering against my breast. I saw it in my mind with golden wings tipped with brilliant red and deep black. A knob of heat formed in the very middle of my heart. Then it irradiated exquisitely slowly from that spot to the very tip of my fingers and toes. It was like the most pleasurable massage I had ever had. I drifted away to some very happy and contended place.

If I am going to hear a Chopin nocturne, I'm going to scream!

I sank in a blue depth, only shadows moving around me. I was aware of the Wraith's presence, looming over me, dissolved in that blue silk.

Suddenly, I knew his name, his Wraith name. My mind opened to it in surprise and thrall. It was the most fascinating thing I had ever experienced. It was not a spoken name but one of images, colors and scents. It was intoxicating like wine. For a brief moment I wanted to escape it, like a butterfly caught in spider's web, but the struggle was unconvinced, more from the fading mind than emotion, as I was drawn in it all. I basked in it and wrapped myself in it.

I felt something cold up my spine, something squirming in my abdomen, none of it unpleasant in the middle of that whirl of colors and scents; just a bit startling. But that was only for a second, no more than a little quiver. The silk was warm and I floated; and floated. All that time, the fluttering form of the Wraith loomed; but it was welcome as I drew in the colors and perfume of his name.

I was suspended in it, hanging there, swinging softly, being lulled into soft sleep. From behind the screen of that slumber, through the veils of blue, I saw the luminous column and the Commander. He held in one hand a small, gleaming finial of glass and metal that contained in its middle a glowing drop of amber. Another Wraith, his white hair moving like a spot of light, placed in the Commander's feeding hand another finial, this one containing a drop of red. He raised the two finials and they glowed against the blue of the column. His hands seemed to enter the blue light inside the column as he poured the contents of the finials into it. The two drops of amber and red swirled and danced like two fire flies, until they joined and spiraled upwards.

And then the shadow of the Commander came back to me and I felt my hand in his, the drop of heat in my palm. I drifted away, everything disappearing around me as I receded into the depth of a sweet blue sleep. All consciousness of the world left me.

I woke up with a start under the night sky filled with the solitary crescent of a red moon. I gained consciousness suddenly and fully, my mind aware of everything with one sweep of my gaze, my next action formulated before I finished looking around me.

I was on the shore of a black lake and in front of me rose a stargate, its circle dark and looming, the far horizon visible through its portal. The dialing console, gleaming softly, as if waiting for my command.

I stood up quickly and my reflection in the surface of the water rose with me, for a second startling me by the unreality of its vision—I was still in the black leather Wraith outfit, my hair loosened, flowing around my face.

Dial Atlantis. The symbols flashed through my mind, in their order. The console lit up and on its own, as if moved by my mind, the dialing symbols lit up, one by one. When the last one glowed and depressed, the stargate filled with the blue light, burst forward and then shimmered, crackling in the silence. I ran into it. I slithered through the wormhole and came out through the Atlantis portal running, the off world activation alarm clamoring in my ear.

I stopped and took a breath. The Marines standing on both sides, with weapons trained on the gate, aimed at me.

"Hold fire!" I heard the call.

"Glad to hear that," I grinned.

I looked at the time readout shimmering behind the glass of the control room above. I had been gone for three weeks, during which time, except for two days, I had been floating in a blue ocean accompanied by an amber butterfly.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

FIVE YEARS LATER.

I stood on the terrace of my quarters bathed in the light of the twin moons rising from the whispering ocean, the breeze passing its fingers through my hair, which I still kept long and free when not on duty. I took a sip of the cool, blue-green drink in a tall glass, and considered the significance of the day.

It was five years to the day since I returned to Atlantis from what everyone called my captivity in the Wraith hive ship; what I called the very strange interlude in my otherwise very human human life. It was not that I haven't thought of that day and what had preceded it until this anniversary I kept for myself. Every evening, once the duties of the day were done, I would come out on this terrace and look at the sky and wonder what had really happened and where that Wraith, whose name I knew, could possibly be. Every time we encountered a hive ship, I would wonder—and hope—that it was his. But, all these years, we never encountered it. The day I returned to Atlantis, his hive had disappeared without a trace. Simply vanished from our monitoring horizon.

After I returned to Atlantis, night after night, I sat in my rooms, the lights low, the ocean of Atlantis glowing in the windows, and could not find sleep. I felt terribly alone and strangely abandoned. I walked through the long hallways of Atlantis with no real purpose on my mind other than to disperse my thoughts to the night. The corridors lit as I moved through them, the beautiful glass panels gleaming at me. I would walk unto the terraces filled with the breeze of the ocean and bathed with the light of the moons. I would breathe in the quiet and the beauty and with it the colors and scents of the Commander's name came to me. Strange, how I could remember it, the colors and scents actually forming in my mind, combining in their particular pattern—amber with golden scents, sapphires with the blue scent of the sky. That was what so strangely filled that little hole of loneliness in my heart.

Until I returned to Earth. Two months after my return to Atlantis, I was recalled back to Earth. It was in many ways at my instigation. I expressed concern, which was backed up by the other scientists, about the knowledge spreading among Wraiths of a human possessing the rare Ancient gene required to create a Wraith Queen. I did not know if the Commander had been successful in creating a Queen with my DNA, and I was most uneasy about what exactly he had used for what he called 'my full DNA and essence.' If he had succeeded, and he used this knowledge for ascendancy over other hives, it could very well be that I was in danger of either being killed by a rival Queen, or being kidnapped for my DNA.

"I don't cherish the thought," I quipped, "of emitting pheromones that attract Wraiths from across the galaxy; like a freaking female moth attracting all the male moths in the jungle."

What I didn't tell anyone—and to this day I am not sure from whence this reticence came—was that I was more concerned that I knew the Wrath's name. I could be an imprint in my brain waves that could be detected by a Wraith, like a homing device that would bring them in.

My stay on Earth lasted three years. I became the head of the scientific group at Stargate Command and because my perceived knowledge of the Wraiths, member at large of the International Overseeing Committee. For the three years I was on Earth, my nights felt just as lonely. But, I did not have the whisper of the ocean to sing to me; and I could not remember his name. I longed for Atlantis until I doubled up with the pain of it.

Until one morning, when I received orders to return to Atlantis as its head. It had been the military's decision, approved by the President, and the IOC approved it without a question. I found that very bizarre, but I so wanted to return to Atlantis that I spared them my smartass and hardass remarks.

As soon as I returned to Atlantis, I recalled the Commander's name.

In the five years that had passed, not once did Atlantis detect his hive or track it. Not once did anyone encounter him or hear of him and his hive. He had not appeared in any of the worlds we knew. The Wraiths were just as impregnable and as unknown as ever. However, an odd kind of co-existence had come to be with the Wraiths that were under our observation. We had no idea if these hives—and the six queens associated with them—were allies of 'my' Wraith, the Commander as we all called him—and respected the terms of the alliance with him, or we had simply reached a balance. It became a 'don't ask, don't tell' understanding—the Wraiths kept away from planets with human populations known to Atlantis. Where they culled, it was outside of our 'hearing.' Also, their numbers dwindled. At the end of the fourth year, we only counted four queens (and I was glad that I had not become like a female moth attracting Wraiths like male moths from the far ends of the galaxy).

In the meantime, I was acutely aware that there could be a Wraith Queen out there with my DNA. But then, what's a little DNA among allies…

As for the Wraith worshippers on the Commander's hive ship—he kept his side of the deal. He dropped them, displaying an unexpected capacity for dark irony, on the doorstep of the Athosian colony; after he scared the bejesus out of them with a cloud of darts, each throwing down a beam of blue light, leaving behind a bewildered human.

Not unexpectedly, the Athosians could not bear to have worshippers around them. Also, we did not know if they were not going to bring the Wraiths down on them.

No one wanted the worshippers. To put them near human habitations would've put them in peril as much as being placed near a Wraith hive. And the worshippers did not want to be near the 'others' either. At the end, they did not want to be outside the hive.

We found a nice little, uninhabited planet for them and set up a settlement. But, it was not use. They did not eat; they did not drink. They gave no food to their children. They started to starve themselves, spending their day and nights gathered in a clearing, staring at the sky and chanting towards it. Dara's hostility towards me was burning fiercer than ever. It was pure hate. In her mind I had taken her place in the Commander's graces and I have thrown her out of paradise.

A week later, Wraiths came and took them. They left behind only a couple of human husks, but the rest were simply taken away. Moira, who had attached herself to me as if I were a surrogate Wraith, was the only one who escaped. Whether it was the Commander claiming back his worshippers—afterall, the deal was to give them to me, but it said nothing of not ever touching them; a flexible interpretation typical of the Wraiths—or it was a rogue hive that took the opportunity to enrich itself, we would never know.

Moira came to Atlantis. For the three years I was back on Earth, being programmed by the Wraiths 'to serve', she became a natural in the infirmary and an asset. However, when I returned as the head of Atlantis, she refused to do anything until I allowed her to serve me as she had served her master. I called her my personal 'personal assistant.'

She turned out to be a fountain of wisdom about the Wraiths. We often spent the hour before nightfall, while she fussed around my quarters, discussing the never ending enigma of the Wraiths; and in particular one enigmatic Wraith—the Commander. I had no human name for him; and would not give him one. Everyone was still ignorant of my knowledge of the Commander's Wraith name.

I did however ask Moira, my fountain of Wraith knowledge, if any of the Worshippers would be given the Wraith's name.

"No, never!" she exclaimed and shook her head as if I had blasphemed. "Only a Queen knows the name of her Wraiths." She looked at me long. "It is a mortal thing to know. And no human can know it. It cannot be given or repeated in human terms."

No, indeed. I could describe it to another human in words, but it would not reproduce the patterns of colors and especially those of scent. I could tell them that it is a combination of amber and the smell of a marigold. But the image and the scent would not combine in the mind to call his name. And this was only two of the colors and mostly unknown scents of the name.

From that day on, Moira seemed to shiver around me.

One evening, as she watered the plants on the terrace, I asked her: "Did Dara feel affection for her master? Or… love?"

Moira did not stop watering the plants, but the stream of water was slower. "Dara had given her soul to him. I suppose that would be love. But, affection for a Wraith is not possible. Even the worshippers born to it, such as the children you saw, have no affection. Such a feeling does not exist among Wraiths, and they do not draw it from others. They do not know it and do not expect it, or recognize it if given. I don't know how they would interpret it."

"They are sentient beings, there must be something on the other side of their darkness."

"Not in the terms we humans understand. A balance of dark and light is a human concept and gift."

"It is the very essence of the universe."

"There is more darkness than light in the Universe."

"But, the light is so much more beautiful, when we encounter it in darkness."

She regarded me carefully. "This Wraith who was my master, this Commander as you call him, his actions were driven only by his need for power and dominance over other hives. And that need was drawn from the need to feed. He did what he had to do, according to the Wraiths' way of doing things; except this one was more clever and cunning than most. Doctor Vries, don't ever imagine that you were more than a tool he used for his power. Even his keeping his side of the bargain had a Wraith's purpose in it."

I bristled, a reaction to cover up the absurd little hope buried inside me that there was some kind of 'feeling'; it was a hope I would not admit to. How could I? I understood better than anyone else that this had been a cold calculation; to what end… there were still questions. "I wasn't speaking of affection for me, Moira; I was speaking of affection for him. I am afraid that perhaps, in some way he turned me." My voice trailed in a question.

She shook her head. "No, he did not." She smiled, her strange, serious smile. "That was not his purpose. He struck a bargain with you as he would with another Wraith. Wraiths do not bargain with humans they have made worshippers." She looked away. "You should be greatly feared." She picked at a leaf. "You are the only one who can speak to the Wraiths."

"Why?"

"Because you know the name of one." She turned away and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

I had one more question of her. But, I never dared to ask.

And here I was, five years later, standing on that same terrace, still wondering what had happened and why the Wraith with amber eyes had done what he had done. That he simply needed a Queen and I provided the gene did not explain his behavior. I had no illusion that he could've taken what he wanted without giving me anything. It all circled back to that Wraith in the forest, the one I unchained and allowed to die like a free Wraith. That act may have been enough to save my life; but, I doubted that had been enough.

I shook my head. I always ended up in the same spot—coming up with answers I did not trust.

I went to my chest of drawers and opened the bottom drawer. I parted the tissue paper and looked at the outfit of leather and silver with which I had returned to Atlantis five years before.

Did Wraiths have a light side of their dark feelings?

A tinkle in my ear drew me out of my nocturnal rumination.

"Doctor Vries," the voice spoke in my ear piece. "Please come to the control room immediately. We have an un-identified off world activation."

I slammed shut the drawer and quickly left my quarters. Moira appeared behind me like a shadow that had peeled off the wall. Sometimes she made me feel as if I was walking through a hive ship.

When I reached the control room, the main screen was filled with light and the portal was shimmering.

"It's a message for you Doctor Vries," the man on duty said. Then he added. "It's from a hive ship. They asked for you by name."

It was not the first time a hive ship had sent a communication to us; but, they did not normally ask for me by name. Actually, none ever did.

I stood staring at the screen, frozen.

"They're asking permission for a visual."

I drew out of my thoughts. "Let it through. Use an off main frame connection."

"Yes."

The screen shimmered again and an image wavered then settled.

"Doctor Vries," the Wraith standing in the middle of what looked like a control chamber spoke, his voice humming. He was a dark form against the glowing background, his long white hair shimmering.

Before I even saw the patterns on his face, I knew who it was. My heart stopped for a moment.

"It's been a long time, Commander," I answered. "Five years, to the day. An interesting coincidence."

Are you counting the years?

"You are well I take it," he said, his voice clipped and void of any fluctuation that would indicate any feeling recognizable by a human. Why did I think there would be one? This was a Wraith that had taken strange human characteristics only in my mind, augmented by the passing years. "I hear that you are now the leader of Atlantis."

"You are well informed."

He inclined his head, as if he was pleased with himself.

"What can I do for you, Commander?"

"We need to complete the terms of our alliance."

"I was under the impression that they were established and agreed upon."

"That was only the preparation for the final resolution of our agreement."

Well, once a tricky Wraith, always a tricky Wraith.

"What are you proposing?"

"I am proposing a meeting between yourself and my Queen."

I felt my heart in my chest.

"I will be present, of course," he added.

"Doctor Vries," an urgent voice rang in my ear piece. "Look outside."

I turned my head and I stared. Through the tall glass panels opening unto the ocean and sky I saw, against the stars of the night, an armada of hive ships popping out of hyperspace.

I swerved to face the screen.

"Do you call that armada up there a meeting proposal?"

A small smile appeared on his face. "I am sure that your scanners are telling you by now that we have not fired up our weapons."

I turned to the Colonel. He nodded in agreement.

"Also," the Commander contintued, "I am sure that by now you have placed your four battle ships above us. Also, I notice that you have raised all the shields." He came closer and now I could see the details of his face and his black coat. For a second I saw the yellow glow in his eyes. "I just wanted to present to you the alliance."

"Impressive," I quipped. "And where do you propose to meet?"

"On Atlantis, of course. I would not think that you would want to try my hive ship again."

His Wraith name flashed through my mind, unbidden.

He inclined his head. "You remember it, Doctor Vries."

At the realization that he had 'heard' his name in my mind, the level of unease reached the point of discomfort.

"Don't flatter yourself, Commander."

He smiled. "I am not." He straightened up. "Are we in agreement?"

The last time he had asked me that question I ended up on the wrong side of the answer.

"We shall see."

"My Queen is particularly interested in visiting Atlantis and speaking with you."

You clever bastard! That is, if Wraiths had bastards… so to speak…

"You may come to Atlantis under the following conditions—your armada of hive ships moves away where I can't see you with my naked eyed. There will be only the Queen and you."

"I would like to bring two of my scientists with me. Unarmed."

"You are going to leave your feeding hands behind?"

I received a snort in reply.

"Human humor," I said.

He looked aside, as if reading a screen, then at me: "My hive ships will move out and Atlantis will lower its shields."

"Atlantis keeps its shields up."

"You have my Queen and me in Atlantis. They would not attack while we are in your hands."

"I think they might. They are Wraiths."

He was silent for a few seconds while staring at me. "Very well. We are quibbling over unimportant things."

"I agree," I said. "You may bring two of your Wraiths."

The screen went dark.

I turned to the people standing behind me. "Colonel, prepare an honor guard; armed to the teeth."

The Colonel grinned.

"We are going to receive them with courtesy," I responded to that grin. "Within limits," I added. "Not that they have a concept of it." I sighed. "This is going to be strange."

Stranger still was my very deeply buried happiness at seeing the Wraith.

###

A small Wraith cruiser landed on the outside platform and was received by what looked almost like an honor guard I had dispatched to escort the party to the large conference room we have set up for the meeting. As Wraiths didn't really seem to make use of tables other than their consoles, I arranged the conference room with armchairs—four on one side for the Commander, the Queen and the two Wraiths, and four on the facing side for myself and three others. Moira, who had done the setting up of the room, had dragged a couple of the plants from my quarters and placed them on either side of the swinging glass portals opening unto the terrace and had selected for the Queen the largest armchair she could find. I noticed, though, that the armchair next to it, probably meant for the Commander, was almost as large.

Mine matched the Commander's.

When the tall doors to the foyer leading to the conference room opened to receive the Wraiths, before I could control myself, my eyes searched for the form of the Commander as they advanced down the long hallway running along narrow windows. I saw him lead, his white hair gleaming in and out of the strips of light. Two marines were on either side of him, Atlantis personnel lined along the walls, looking on with obvious interest and at some level, awe.

As he approached, and entered in the circle of light thrown by the lamps around the door, I absorbed all the details of his long, black outfit of finely worked leather-like material. The hair was longer than I remembered and looser, although it still had some braiding. He had finger guards on three fingers of his right hand and they were made of silver in laid with that blue amber-like material I saw on his ship. The buckle of his belt was also silver and amber, quite striking on the somber uniform. He walked quickly, in that clipped and unrelenting way of the Wraiths, covering the distance with eerie speed. Like all Wraiths, but especially this one, he was quite taller than any of the humans he passed.

As he walked in, his gaze met mine as if he had aimed for it from the very end of that long hallway and before I realized, a silent greeting passed between us. His name appeared in my mind and in reply there was a strange nugget of warmth in my right palm. It startled me and I brought my hand up and clasped it with the other, my fingers feeling for that spot of warmth.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Moira, who was standing at the far end the stairs leading up to the conference room, bowing deeply. My military commander on one side, Colonel Santos and the head scientist, Doctor Bernarde, on the other stood as stiff as bark on a tree. Marines fanned out on both sides.

The Commander nodded his head in a greeting to everyone and stepped aside/ As the Marines cleared the entry and fell back, the Queen came into view, followed by the two Wraiths/

The sight of her riveted me to the spot. To see a Wraith Queen, I have been told, was always an unforgettable and impressive, if not frightening, experience. Even the bravest and most jaded experienced fear; a primeval fear that could not be controlled.

I heard Doctor Bernarde gasp a little and the Colonel shift next to me. The Marines suddenly became more alert.

However, I did not feel that fear. The same as the fear I felt in front of the Commander had always been muted by something else, a certitude that I was being met differently by them; as if something in their demeanor towards me and in their gaze on me turned off that fear the same as it would turn it on.

And what I saw in front of me startled me and left me frozen on my spot. I had expected a miniature female Wraith, perhaps no bigger than a five year old human child. But, the Queen was fully grown, as tall as the Commander. Her youth was revealed, however, by the unexpected delicacy of her figure and face. She had pale red hair, falling on her shoulders. Her dress was of a brilliant burgundy material that looked like patent leather, worked with strips and swirls of golden metal, her bodice a bustier of amber. Her hands were long and narrow, silver guards on all the fingers of her right hand.

I felt a little bit cold—the being in front of me, the DNA of my DNA, had a feeding hand; and fed on humans. It is then I realized what made her so different and riveting—it was not the delicacy of her young age, or that she was to mature. Her face and body showed her human half. The color of her hair was a blend between my dark red and a Wraith's white. Her features, although Wraith-like, were tempered by a more pronounced and more narrow nose and her mouth was quite human like. But, what startled me more than anything were here eyes, now trained on me—they were catlike; but they were blue, like no Wraith would ever have; they were the blue of my eyes.

"I'll be…" Doctor Bernard gasped next to me.

I could feel the Colonel's grin as he whispered in my other ear: "The chip didn't fall that far from the tree; either tree."

The reality of being the… ahem… mother of a Wraith queen hit me like a Wraith dart over the head.

The Queen stopped in front of me and examined me openly, her chin up, in a display of rattling arrogance. I stared back at her, feeling my lips tighten.

"So," she spoke, her voice startling everyone, "you are the human my commander selected for our agreement." Her unnerving blue eyes scanned me and I could feel their touch. "I cannot imagine why."

"Sorry to disappoint," I said, quietly. I felt the Commander's gaze on me; and it was amused.

"My Commander has disappointed me." She emphasized the 'me', making it sound a very imperial 'me'. "I do not see what is special about you."

You, little squirt! "What makes me special, young lady, is that I am the only human, or Wraith in this Galaxy, who can put you over my knees and give you a good spanking over your royal butt."

I didn't think a Wraith could hiccup, but the Commander did suppressing a laugh.

"And that," I added before the Queen's indignation exploded and pointed to the Commander, "is the only Wraith who can do the same to you." I grinned at the Commander. "Good thing I didn't do the Wraith thing and feed on you."

It was the Commander's turn to look at me in consternation.

The humans in that room were no less flabbergasted.

Oh, she WAS young; and she did have human DNA. A mature, full blooded Wraith Queen would've had me for desert by now. Unless, I was needed for something else…

"Welcome to Atlantis," I changed tone and became very ceremonial. "Shall we settle down in the conference room?"

"Yes," the Queen answered and turned her chin away from me. She held her arms behind her back—a characteristic Wraith pose I came to recognize. The Commander had come closer and so did the other two Wraiths. I looked at them for a second—they looked young also. They seemed somehow of the same mold as the Queen, and quite splendidly groomed.

I led them into the conference room, and without even being pointed to it, the Queen sat down in the largest armchair. The Commander sat on her right, the side of her feeding hand, and the two Wraiths sat to his right. All four put their hands on the arms of the chair, in full view. The Commander turned his head to the Queen and I saw the glint of the earring. Ah…

"May I offer you anything before we start the discussions?" I said.

The Commander inclined his head.

I was in for a new surprise. Moira slipped behind me, leaned over me and whispered: "I will bring some fruit juices."

My gaze jumped at her.

"They do drink," she whispered very low. "Very rarely and only for survival."

What the… "Some refreshments?" I spoke to the Wraiths, barely hiding the surprise in my voice. The wicked thought crossed my mind to offer them vodka. I glanced at the Commander. He was looking back at me with a mien on his face that seemed to tell me that he had read my thoughts; even if he had no idea what vodka was.

"That would be welcome," the Commander said.

The Queen made a move with her head—something like a Balinese dancer. "Do you have chocolate?"

Oh, God! This WAS a daughter of mine!

"I didn't realize that Wraiths knew about chocolate," I said watching Moira flutter out of the room with great urgency.

"My Commander told me that you had demanded—what was it?" She turned to the Commander.

"Ten Godiva chocolate cheesecake slices."

At this point, neither Doctor Bernard nor the Colonel could stop themselves from snickering.

I made a face.

Moira returned so quickly it seemed that she had barely left. She held a tray with three glasses containing a red liquid—raspberry I hoped and four silver containers in the shape of a gourd with long silver straws in them. Where she got those, was a mystery. They looked rather like the bomberos used by gauchos in Argentina. On a little plate she had two chocolate bonbons. MY bonbons, the ones I was saving for Christmas…

Interestingly, Moira gave the bomberos to the two Wraiths first, then to the Commander and last to the Queen. Then she served her the bonbon. The Queen took the bombero in one hand and then she picked with the tip of her fingers the bonbon. She looked at it on all sides and put it in her mouth. She sat there, quietly, for a long time, doing nothing, apparently letting the chocolate melt in her mouth.

I didn't see her swallow.

She shrugged and put the tip of the silver straw in her mouth.

I shifted my gaze to the Commander, while I took my first sip from my glass. It was raspberry. Moira's ability to anticipate was uncanny, to say the least.

The Commander had also put the tip of the straw in his mouth—I tried not to think of those little sharp teeth. I couldn't see him swallow, unless that small movement in the muscle of his neck was that. There seemed to be no special pleasure in it or appreciation. A few seconds later they all stopped. Moira dashed forward and took the gourds away.

I put the glass aside. I guess they were just being polite. A polite Wraith… They must be wanting something very badly.

"Shall we get to the heart of the matter?" I said. "What may we do for you?"

"It's what we have decided to give you," the Queen said.

Oh, I am going to put you over my knees.

I glanced at the Commander and caught him tilting his head towards the Queen. She seemed to listen to something. Then she made an impatient gesture with her hand that seemed to signify something between boredom and annoyance with human stupidity.

One could tell that I had no hand in bringing up this brat…

The Commander nodded back at her with a small seated bow and turned to me.

The Queen took a second bonbon, and this time she seemed to chew on it and actually swallow.

Under the pretence that I was giving Moira my glass I turned to her and whispered: "I didn't think Wraiths could eat…"

Moira leaned very low, as if she was bowing deeply to me: "She has more human DNA in her than I imagined."

:

"It's doing nothing to her disposition."

"She is more Wraith."

I turned back to the Commander.

He leaned back into his chair and said: "We believe that we have met the terms of our agreement for the past five years."

I nodded.

"My Queen is glad that those who decide such things on Earth have agreed to her request that you, Doctor Vries, return to Atlantis to lead it."

"You requested it?" I let out.

He inclined his head in that peculiar little bow of his that was meant to be an acknowledgement.

"Of course. Without your return, our agreement would not work. After three years, they came around."

It was the Queen who spoke: "We are a persuasive race, as I am sure you would agree. Also, a patient race."

Ah…

"And to what end have you persuaded Earth to return me here or perhaps a better question would be: what is this conclusion of our agreement?" And an even better question: since when do Wraiths dictated to Earth? I glanced at the Commander—what clever argument did you make? I guess this is a new facet of the Wraith Earth was finding out—they can be charming in their own bizarre way; anyway, they can be surprising.

The Queen turned her head with a sinuous move and looked at me from the corner of her eye, the blue of her pupil of an icy hue. "I am sure you will appreciate the symmetry of it."

A mind that is half human and half Wraith, I contemplated the creation that used my DNA. A mind that could move between the two, even though she did realize it.

She now faced my fully. "My Commander advised me of humans. Tell me, Doctor Vries, is it true that humans do not kill their young?"

"Not always…" I hedged on my answer.

She inclined her head and looked at me sideways. "You do not consider your offsprings, the ones you created, as rivals. You protect them. You do not kill them."

I was loath to answer that question; I knew that it was leading me in a trap. I just nodded.

"That is very interesting," she said. "And very useful to the terms of our agreement."

"There have been times," I said evenly, "when parents have been known to strange their teenage offsprings…"

But, she either understood my jest, or it meant nothing in her scheme, because she paid no attention to my statement. "Shall we return to the symmetry?" I said.

She almost purred. "It was you, the humans of Atlantis, who awoke us before it was time. It is you who will enable us to return to our state of hibernation."

I concealed my startled reaction. Hibernation… I echoed in my mind. The implications of that flashed through my head. The first to come was that Wraiths would suddenly just be gone; for the time being at least. That was not what I expected. I kept a blank face.

"Our awakening," the Queen continued, "was out of its normal cycle. We awoke to a world whose human population had not recovered to the level to sustain us. Now, it has dwindled even more, at a rate higher than normal and cannot sustain us, even in our reduced numbers. You made a serious mistake and caused harm to the Wraiths and to this galaxy. It is your duty to correct it."

The Commander moved. "Killing the Wraiths is not the correction we have in mind. That will not benefit either one of us. We did defeat the Ancients. And now we have a young and powerful Queen. You have not yet won the war with the Wraiths."

I was silent. I waited for the other shoe to drop. Also, the slow realization came to me as what that meant. It felt like a cold kick to my stomach and it surprised me; and troubled me. It felt as if the Commander would disappear off the screen of my life.

But I took my mind off it and asked directly: "With your human DNA, you cannot use other methods of sustenance?"

The Queen looked at me with hard eyes. Her teeth showed. They were Wraith teeth. Or may be with braces they could be less so…

I stopped myself—I had to resist the human impulse to try to turn her into a human.

I glanced at the Commander. I had learned, somehow, to read this Wraith's face. But now, it was inscrutable.

"What a very human notion," the Queen smirked. Now THAT was definitely the Commander's smirk. "I am Wraith, Doctor Vries. I would not be Wraith if I grazed on grass. I would be a locust."

"For how long would this hibernation period be?" I asked, zigzagging away from the subject of Wraith and locusts..

It was the Commander who answered with a small smile on his face. "For many cycles of your human life."

Sadness hit me; deep, deep sadness. I looked at the Commander and unbidden I felt my eyes tear. I swallowed, hoping against hope that he had neither seen it, nor understood it.

Why should I feel sad, I chided myself. You're such an idiot. This is just a Wraith! I took in a deep breath. It was ragged. Just a Wraith; the other half of this Wraith Queen created from your body; blood of your blood. Although I suspected that the DNA had been manipulated beyond recognition as human. Or has it? I looked at the Queen's hauntingly un-Wraith mien, a shadow haunting her dominating Wraith side.

I shifted my gaze back to the Commander—I much preferred his look and personality. He was a Wraith; one expected nothing else. Anything else, was a very exhilarating surprise.

I shook my head to drive away the thought. It cut to the bone.

"I suppose this is good thing for the Galaxy," I said, putting as much sarcasm in my voice as I could. "I don't see what our part would be."

The Queen said: "The agreement that you would not seek us out and destroy us while we are asleep—"

"The thought would never cross our minds," I quipped.

"Indeed," she smirked. "And your pledge that you would protect us from rogue humans attempting such an act. For as long as Atlantis is in charge of the Pegasus."

The Commander moved slightly, drawing my attention: "We'll be on planets that do not have gates. We will be far enough from any gates so that we are beyond the reach of the humans on Pegasus, other than you, who possess the advanced space ships. At least for now, only you could reach us, if you would ever choose to find us."

"Wouldn't it be wise to tell us where you are?" I asked.

"No." He inclined his head amused.

There were several bones to pick at. I started with the most obvious. "We are not in charge of the Pegasus."

"You are the guardians and possessors of the Ancient technology, plus the more advanced technology of Earth and the Asgard. Humans split—as you put it—hairs, but your superior power puts you in charge."

Second bone. "What advantage would there be to us?"

"Isn't it obvious? There would be no Wraiths. You could play with your fellow humans at your hearts' content."

Third bone. "It would be an illusory solution and only temporary. You will return, to do the same thing you are doing now, with your somewhat nasty habits un-changed."

"We would return, as I said, after many cycles of your human life. In the meantime this galaxy would prosper—"

"—multiply—"

"—that is part of reason for our hibernation; so that the balance would be restored. Also, the humans would have better technology and be better equipped to fight." He shrugged lightly. "Who knows what will be hundreds of years from now."

I will be dead and gone and forgotten by the time you awake, the thought pierced through my mind.

I looked at him carefully. "We could promise anything, but what would keep us from breaking it?"

There was silence for a while. It was the Queen who spoke: "Humans keep their word. Also, as we ascertained, humans do have the curious habit of not killing their offsprings."

"There's only one offspring," I shot back. "And one does not spring make."

I could see on the Commander's face an amused incomprehension of what my last statement was.

"Human proverb," I said.

"Ah…"

The Queen was not amused. She had definitely not inherited either Wraith or human sense of humor. She said stiffly: "There is more than on offspring; many more, a lot more." She smiled suddenly. So sweetly…

She pointed at the two Wraiths on the Commander's right who had been motionless and silent through the whole conversation. I looked at them and now realized what I had recognized in them—not only did they look like the queen, they looked like me to the same degree she did.

"I think," the Commander spoke, "you call them grandchildren." His eyes turned amber. "You are the creator of a new kind of Wraith. You would not destroy them."

I leaned back in my chair, full understanding sinking in.

This had been planned from the moment that Wraith on that planet had sensed my special Ancient gene. That is why he had tried to save me and point me to the cave. That is why he had called the hive. That is why I was saved and why I was treated in a manner no Wraith treated a human and allowed to return to Atlantis. That is why he did not feed upon me at the end. Finally that puzzle was answered.

Self-centered son of a… No. No. He was Wraith and he meant nothing by it other than what concerned the Wraith and his power. He had accomplished what no other Wraith had—he had created a Queen from his own body but had not died for it; instead, he was now, in spite of the ceremonial respect he showed her, the power of the hive and alliance. He had now the protection of Atlantis—the irony would not escape him—as he and his hives receded into hibernation for many centuries; to awaken as he was, in power, to a new world.

"Going in hibernation always has its risks," he said. "That's how life is. We awakened ahead of time by humans we never knew existed; descendants of the Ancients we had defeated, from another galaxy. We've almost reached extinction in the world we awakened. As I said, who knows what we will find in the next world. It could well be that a future cycle of human will find u s and have the technology to destroy us. You cannot guarantee that. What we ask is that you allow us to go into hibernation and not pursue us."

"I will have to have the agreement of Earth command and our allies on Pegasus."

"They already agreed when they agreed to send you back as head of Atlantis," the Queen said, dismissively.

"I still need to confirm."

"We will return to our hive in two hours. I hope you have the confirmation until then."

I turned to Doctor Bernarde. "Would you please entertain our guests in my absence? Colonel?" I turned to my military head.

The Queen moved, her garments rustling. "I would like to see Atlantis."

"That can be arranged. Only non-technical areas."

The Queen smiled vaguely. "You do not trust us, Doctor Vries?"

"No." I looked straight at her. "Do you trust your offsprings?"

"No. " She stood up. "But, we have an alliance. It does not benefit us to break it."

No, indeed.

I stood up. "If you will excuse me. You are welcome to visit Atlantis."

I walked out, perhaps quicker than I should. Moira came after me like a shadow.

I had escaped the presence of the Wraiths as much to advise Earth of the negotiations and of my proposal—and why was I so certain they would accept? Hibernation was the perfect delay tactic and opportunity to avoid decisions for the IOA—as to snatch some quiet for myself to think; or rather control the thoughts whirling through my head; and the illogical emotions that had seized me. What had I expected? I was dealing with a Wraith, who had no compatible emotional system to mine. He had used me, through and through. Indignation and anger mounted in spite of my intelligence and logic being furious at my emotions. I felt as if I was being hit by two storms of anger, both aimed at my own heart.

As for the Queen? She was a complete stranger. More than a stranger; she was alien. What had I expected? To be honest, I had thought that the human genes I had given her would make a difference, that she would be somehow less of a Wraith. But, even if she had some human trait in her, she had been brought up by Wraiths. If there was any human emotions or bond, it had been completely suppressed; more than suppressed—never developed. Perhaps if she had been brought up by me—

NO! I almost cried out. NO! She is Wraith, she was created for the Wraith; she is their Queen. I must not succumb to the human arrogance to think that my species is the one with all the sweet, warm and splendid answers. What advantage would she have as a human? What would make it so great for her? As she was, she was powerful, taking no crap from anyone, Wraith or human; especially human. Look at yourself, Elena. How much crap have you taken because of your emotions and expectations? Even now, even when you are dealing with a Wraith Commander you expect something in return for all you fine emotions other than not being fed upon. You expect emotional equivalence. May be you think that not feeding on you was a Wraith act of love.

LOVE? Had I just said that?

You are such an idiot. Stupid, stupid, stupid human—

"Doctor Vries?"

Moira was standing in the doorway.

I let out my breath and said: "You know, as long as she feeds only on males, I'm ok with that."

Moira looked at me curiously. She said: "By choice, they all feed primarily on males. Females increase the population."

"Brilliant…" I looked at Moira waiting to hear the reason she was there.

"The Queen summons you. She wishes to speak with you."

I opened my mouth to comment on the word 'summons', but decided it meant nothing. A Wraith Queen didn't know any other way than to summon.

"And where is her _Majesty_?"

"In your quarters, Doctor."

"What?"

"She wanted to see them."

"Oh…"

I found the Queen standing in the doorway to the terrace, facing me, her hands laced behind her back. The two Wraiths, her offsprings, flanked her.

"Daughter," I greeted her, my voice biting, fully aware that she had no concept of 'daughter.' "You rang?" Then I nodded at the Wraiths. "Nice to see you again, grand children."

They just stared at me with cat-like blue eyes.

If they understood my sarcasm, they showed no sign of it.

I stood waiting for the Queen to start the conversation.

She took a while, her eyes roaming the room. She paced to the desk and touched the bronze statue of a horse and rider.

Suddenly she swerved and her gaze flew over my head. "Get out!"

I turned and saw Moira run out into the corridor outside, the heavy door sliding shut after her.

The Queen's face changed, as if she had switched masks. Now it was smiling.

"You know my Commander's Wraith name," she said.

"It was the polite thing to do," I retorted. "Perhaps you would do me the courtesy of giving me your name." I was pushing it.

Her eyes examined me. They were as cold as ice; reptilian, to be more exact. "He should die for telling his name to anyone else but his Queen—"

"If you harm one hair of his head the alliance between us is null and void and you can kiss your hibernation goodbye. I will personally blow up every single hive you've got and you with it, no matter how much of my DNA you have."

Oh, great. I was defending a Wraith from his Queen.

I couldn't tell if the look in her eyes was one of shock or amusement. "Very interesting," she purred.

"And what is your name? I obviously have the capacity to understand a Wraith's name, spoken sweetly enough to me."

The Queen showed her teeth. I guess that passed for an amused smile. "A Queen does not have a name and does not need one. She is her hive. She is its many parts and the whole. Her name is hive."

"And what is the name of the hive?"

She was deathly silent.

"Do you mind if I call you Amanda?"

Amanda regarded me with a haughty look. "It's meaningless."

"It's a human custom."

"Yes, I know. I have studied humans and my Commander has told me all he knew about you." She looked at me with that intent stare so peculiar to the Wraith, even more cutting because her eyes were blue. "My Commander told me about the human notion of attraction, like iron to a magnet. He said that humans smell pheromones, as he called it, and are attracted by it."

I raised my eyebrows. There was something different in her voice—the disdain was less sharp. She just sounded curious.

"Do you find my Commander attractive?" she asked suddenly.

I opened my mouth, closed it and finally opened it. "He's quite fetching, in his own way."

"My Commander tells me that the humans of Atlantis are different from the humans we have known."

Glad to be away from the subject of the fetching Wraith and my supposed attraction for him, I said: "In what way?"

Amanda, as I called her now, returned to her spot in front of the window. "You are more like the Ancients. You use power like Wraith."

"I'll take that as a compliment for now," I said.

Amanda was indeed very talkative for a Wraith, and certainly for a Queen. I wondered how much of it had to with her age—she was so very young—and how much had to do with having acquired some of my big mouth DNA. "Your scientists are almost as good as Wraith," she added, and this time there was appreciation. "My Commander," she went on, "also informed me that you are better than the other humans of Atlantis."

For some reason I bristled. On the other hand I made a silent note that the Commander had certainly talked about me more than I would've expected. I bit back the tart retort and prompted her to elucidate her statement with a very neutral, bland: "Why?"

She looked at me and I could swear there was a shimmer of mischief in her eyes. "He thinks you are attracted to him in a way no human would be, which shows you are of intelligence superior to your fellow humans."

Whichever way I took that statement, it left me speechless. And oh, what comes out of the mouths of babes! I finally found my words: "I didn't think that attraction was a quality of interest in the Wraiths."

Amanda grinned a little, and at that moment she looked exactly like the Commander. "There's much you don't know about Wraith."

"I've been told that repeatedly."

"Attraction is not unknown to us. Except we do not use is so foolishly."

"Well, my dear, I am NOT attracted to your Commander, so don't plot anything around it."

"Naturally."

Ah, the famous Wraith 'naturally.' I veered only slightly from the subject, only to return to it later. I nodded in the direction of the two silent Wraiths. "Are they your only offspring?" I wasn't sure if she would get my question.

"Yes," she answered somewhat indignantly. "I have been a Queen only for the past year."

"You've grown up fast…"

"I came out of the Ancient column fully grown. We had no time for lengthy preparations."

"How about the faceless Wraiths?"

"The warriors?"

"Yes. Have you created any of those?"

She shrugged a bit and suddenly looked bored. I suddenly realized that this was, in some way, a military secret. But, she did answer: "Those are easy," she said. "I just provide part of my genetic seed to the hive and they are created in cells, without my attention." She shrugged again. "They are all the same. Intelligence and biological requirements are simple."

"The other Wraiths, like the Commander, they are created differently?"

"Of course!" She looked at me amused.

I decided that be a clown and act as a mother, even if I was dealing with a Wraith daughter. I asked, putting on the accents of a fussy mother: "So, who's the father of these two, who does he earn his living and is there attraction between the two of you?"

The reaction I got, told me that I shot in the dark and misfired badly. Amanda stared at me with supreme disdain at my obvious stupidity and ignorance and the two Wraiths flanking her exchanged a look that seemed equally amused.

Then her face changed, haughty again. "These are matters no humans are supposed to know. Not even our closest worshippers; even the Ancients did not know. That is how we defeated them. They created us and thought they knew everything. But, we changed and manipulated what they had created, until they knew us no more. They looked how to destroy us and reduce our numbers, but they missed it." As she was taller than me, she was looking at me from above. While she looked down her nose at me, she seemed to cogitate. Unusual for a Wraith, I told myself; they were usually too sure of themselves, too arrogant and obviously to focused to ever need to cogitate. "However," she said, "as my Commander told me, you are not like other humans. Or even as the Ancients. My Commander has given you that which has never been given to a human."

"His name?" I echoed.

"More than that." Her eyes shimmered at me. "He has given you that which a Wraith only gives to a Queen." She came a few steps closer and I felt suddenly uncomfortable. "You shall know the secret."

"Does this involve you feeding upon me?" I quipped.

She hissed back at me.

"Just joking," I answered the hiss.

"I thought you were not concerned about being fed upon."

"It depends," I answered absurdly.

She tilted her head. "Very well… You shall know the Wraith secret. The faced Wraiths, as you call them, are the result of fusing my genetic seed with that of my hive ship."

I stared back at her, and I knew my mouth was open.

"The males of our race," she continued, "have two shapes—one is like the male Wraiths you humans know." She motioned towards the two Wraiths standing to her right and left. "The other form of our Wraiths, one no one knows, is the hive ship of a Queen."

I managed to say: "Your hive ship is a male Wraith?"

"Yes. The Queen is not only the power of her hive but she is also the mate of the ship."

Do I dare to ask the next question? "Who has the highest power—the Queen or the ship?"

She didn't answer immediately. "We are one."

"Can you exist without the ship?"

"Without the ship I am useless."

"And the ship without you?"

"It can exist, but it would be only half sentient without a Queen."

I was stunned. "You mean… as I walked through the corridors and chambers of your hive ship, it was an intelligent, living Wraith?"

"The Ship Wraith, mate of the Queen. A great warrior and a progenitor of his hive."

The scientist in me became intrigued and excited. "How does it happen?"

"It is the greatest achievement of a Queen, to create a ship. It takes the lives of many Wraiths."

"What is the process between you and the Ship Wraith?"

"The mating takes place in a chamber created by the Ship Wraith filled with the waters of his being. The Queen submerged herself in it and her mind and that of the Ship Wraith come together. When their minds are together and their names blend, their -genetic seed= is produced and fused in the chamber. The Queen and her ship mate with the mind and manipulate the DNA to create the purpose of the Wraith in the hive. The newly created Wraith develops in that chamber until it is mature. That is when the Queen takes him out and gives him his name."

I looked at the two Wraiths with blue eyes. They were a matching pair, all right! Even the length of their hair was exactly the same. Neither had tattoos, I noted. I wondered what they did in the hive.

Apparently she guessed my question, or read my mind "These two are at my side at all times," she said. "They have, because of you, the Ancient female gene that will create a Queen."

Oh… My gaze passed from one to the other. "They are just waiting for a Queen?" Wraiths in waiting…

"They are being trained in creating the codes that would attract a Queen and induce her to produce the seed that creates another Queen." She grinned. "Another thing the Ancients did not know." She fell silent for a while. "But you do know." She looked at me hard. "Your mind absorbed that of a Wraith and mated with it just like a Wraith." Then she said slowly. "But, my Commander failed. You were not a Queen and you could not manipulate the DNA; and he is a male Wraith who did it without a Queen's mind. The only reason he's alive is because he has made himself indispensable. He's too clever to die."

"By what twisted, Wraith logic has he failed? I am looking at a Queen of a hive, who has already produced warriors and these two, who is the head of one of the strongest Wraith alliance in the galaxy, who has now Atlantis as an ally. Yes, he's too clever to die. You wouldn't be if it were not for his cleverness, your Majesty."

Her face turned a strange hue of pale. I could see the veins under the skin turn dark. She was suddenly very angry. As angry as a hornet, I would say. The two Wraiths moved towards me.

"He's very clever, Doctor Vries," she said in a low hiss. "He has the power to keep me alive, or let me die. The only reason he hasn't killed me is because I am the Queen that suits him. He has turned things upside down in the world of the Wraith. He, a mere male Wraith, just a Commander by the grace of my will, has the power in the hive. He would not have that with any other Queen. She would've killed him long before he would even be able to hatch his clever plans."

She put out both her hands, palms up. "This is his failure; or his clever work."


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

It took me a few seconds to gather my wits. I had not expected the sight of her smooth palm to hit me like a fist in my stomach. She was staring back at me and suddenly I saw something that I never thought I'd see in a Wraith—behind the anger and frustration and coldness, there was a shadow of sadness.

"You are dying?" I whispered, unable to cover my discomfort.

"No," she answered, her voice flat.

"You can eat food?" You have, after all, the human DNA more than other Wraiths.

She looked at me dismissively: "All Wraiths can eat food, as you call it, after a fashion. However, we are Wraiths. And it does not sustain us. Not as Wraiths—long lived, self healing and superior to all."

"Then…"

"My Commander and my two Wraiths—" She nodded in the direction of the two \Wraiths flanking her, "give me the gift of life whenever I need it."

Pieces fell into place. At the same time there was a knot of anger in my throat.

"It is the way of the Wraith," Amanda said, "to kill a Queen that is less than perfect. The hive would kill her. But, outside of my Commander and my two Wraiths, no one knows of it. Now you do also." She started to pace again. "Also, I am perfect in my functions as a Queen. I have produced strong and perfect warriors and the Ship Wraith has accepted me and we have produced these perfect Wraiths. That is why the Commander has allowed me to stay alive and is keeping me alive. But, it is not sustainable. It is very painful for a Wraith and it weakens them."

"Is that why you're going into hibernation?"

"What better way to keep a secret?" She grinned at me.

"And when you wake up?"

"The world might be changed."

A chirp in my ear startled me. I tapped the earpiece to turn on the microphone."Yes."

"We have a signal from the IAD," the voice spoke in my ear.

I straightened up. "I believe we have an answer from Earth. I hope it's positive."

"I am sure it is." She gave me a distant look of disdain. "We, Wraith, know human ways and weaknesses. You are the weaker of any alliance."

"Have you ever heard of hubris?"

"No." She turned her head away from me. "Inform my Commander of what you, humans, have decided. It's his alliance."

"It's the alliance that's keeping you a Queen and alive," I said as she walked past me.

"I am aware of it," she answered and marched out, hands held behind her back. The Marines flanked her and escorted our down the corridor.

_Brat!_

The IAD's answer was affirmative. Of course. Anything that delayed action and a decision was splendid with the IOD. I wondered, thought, for what they were buying time, unless it was sheer political laziness on their part. By the time the Wraiths would wake up, it would be someone else's problem. The quintessential politician's philosophy and guiding principle.

As I walked to where the Commander had been waiting for word on the IAC's decisions, with Moira following me like a shadow, I ruminated over the Commander's motives. I had to keep reminding myself that he was a Wraith. Everything he did was part of a scheme to gain ascendancy for his hive; and for himself. Also, although he had a Queen, he had taken a path contrary to the ways of the Wraiths—he had not relinquished any of his powers and it was still about HIS hive. I feared that the answers he would give me as to his motives, if he would give me one, would plunge me into deep disappointment; not with him. He was a Wraith and he did what a Wraith does. And that was the reality outside the absurd boundary I created around this Wraith because of my ridiculous exclusion of THIS Wraith from the aversion any human should have for his species. The disappointment would be all of my own doing.

I found the Commander on the terrace of the conference room, sitting on the bench with his hands on his knees, staring out over the ocean. It struck me that I had never seen him in the open air, in full sunlight. It made him look even more pale and the hair an almost fluorescent white. Sunlight revealed how alien he was.

When he looked up at me and stood up as I approached, what startled me most was the pinpoint of sunlight in his amber eyes that seemed like liquid gold.

"What is the answer from Earth?" he asked brightly.

"They agree with the terms. But then, you knew that, I am sure."

"I expected it to be so."

"You planned well."

"Naturally."

Yes, naturally indeed. I went to the rail, attracted by the brilliant blue of the ocean and the gleaming towers of the city. I could never have enough of the view.

"Do you build such structures on Earth?" he asked, joining me at the rail, his hands clasping the metal. His hands were narrow, with long fingers, the guards making them look even longer. I wondered if the size of the hands was part of the Wraith 'design' depending on their function.

"Not quite like this," I answered. "But we do have entire cities with buildings fifty and sixty stories high, with millions of people."

"Yes…" he seemed to muse. I preferred not to think about what he was musing and calculating. "The Wraiths,' he interrupted my thinking, "have never attained the desire or ambition to build cities and structures like these. We have no need for it."

"You are a rather nomadic race," I said. "You don't even have a planet you call your own."

"We don't need a planet. We have the galaxy." He glanced at me. "It is place a lot vaster than you imagine and with much in it that the Ancients did not know. We can hide in places you will take many cycles of your life to discover." He turned his gaze away. "If you would even have the will to do so. As soon as we disappear in hibernation, your masters on Earth will lose all will or interest to pursue us. They will be long dead by the time we emerge."

"You underestimate human will and also treachery."

He was silent.

I turned away from the ocean and saw Moira standing at the far end of the conference room. He must've sensed her also because he said: "Has Moira served you well?"

"Yes."

"That is good. Her life depends on it. She is to serve you as she would serve me."

I wasn't surprised at the revelation that Moira was still connected to him. And yet, the confirmation of my suspicions, did surprise me. "You planted her here?"

"Of course. How else do you think she escaped from being taken with the others when the Wraiths attacked the place you put the worshipers?"

"What happened to them?"

"They are well and happy where they want to be—in the service of the Wraiths."

"I should've known that Moira was your spy."

"Moira is born to worshippers. She is loyal to me completely. But, I did not mean her to spy on you or do anything to deceive you. I put her here to allow me to protect you. She informed me of your well being and whereabouts. If word got out that you had the Ancient gene for creating Wraith queens, you would be in grave danger from other Queens and Wraiths." He gave a soft hiss. "If you think that she is not loyal to you or you think she would betray you, I give you the right to end her life."

"I'll keep that in mind," I quipped, not sure how to take it; I was beyond being shocked by a Wraith. I supposed that it was a gift to me. "Thank you." Did Wraiths say thank you? Why would they? They just took as they pleased.

He nodded sharply to acknowledge my thank you. I have come to know this nod as a small courtesy.

I said: "Your Queen showed me her hand."

That statement drew a Wraith baring of teeth to display displeasure. "My Queen wanted to gain your human sympathy and set you against me. She was testing you."

"She overestimates the affection a human has for those who share their DNA."

He drifted closer to me and suddenly I realized that I was within that invisible circle around a Wraith that would make a human easy prey.

I continued: "I cannot imagine why she would want that—I cannot sustain her life. You are the only one."

"She's a very young Queen. She will, in time, overcome her young instincts and acquire the learning of a Wraith Queen. As I said, she was testing your loyalties and my powers." He peered at me with cold eyes. "I would think that you would want to draw her away from me. We have heard of some of the ways you have to turn a Wraith into a human."

I looked back at him steadily, into his eyes. "I think that what we tried to do to some of the Wraith was an abomination and wrong. Very wrong. No—" I brought his name to my mind. 'Amber moth' were the words that flashed through my mind in parallel with the colors and the scents. "No, I would not even conceive doing something like that."

He nodded.

"Why doesn't she have a feeding hand? Was this part of your plan?" I asked.

There was no hesitation in his voice or demeanor; Wraiths did not hesitate. "Yes."

I made no effort to hide the shock. I swallowed. "I don't wish to interfere in the ways of the Wraiths, but, why?"

"When I mated with you for your DNA—"

"You did what?" I leaped verbally and my heart skipped a beat. A prick of heat shot into my palm.

He looked at me with an uncomprehending mien. "How else could I have gotten your DNA?"

"You could have just… just gotten a piece of me—"

"That would not have done it. It would not have been done differently had you been a Wraith Queen." He grinned a bit. "Except I did not expect you to cut off my hand and let me starve." Then his face slowly changed to understanding. "Doctor Elena Vries,' he said with a smile and a purr, "it was not done the human way. It is not the way of the Wraiths, not since we discarded the yoke of the Ancients and their experiments with us. It was your mind with mine that changed the chemistry of your body and you willingly gave me your burden of creation." His tone almost free of that Wraith undertone, "As a scientist you would appreciated—"

I stopped him with a raised hand. "I don't need to know the details. Please leave me with some illusion of a bodice ripping romantic moment." That last statement so amused me that my indignation subsided.?

"Romantic moment?" he echoed.

I wondered how real had my indignation been

"You know, you bring me flowers and chocolates, and soft music, flickering candles, and then you rip off my clothes in passion."

He made a little sound that seemed to convey exasperation.

Why was I having so much fun with this instead of being revolted, indignant and horrified, and… and… And what?

I decided not to pursue that line of thought. I said: "You were telling me about the reason why your Queen has no feeding hand."

He seemed to snap out of his own thoughts. "Yes… that." He turned his gaze over the ocean. "I could hear your thoughts and you gave me a glimpse of your memories. I never expected or imagined what I found—the tale of humans in Earth. You called it 'history'." He looked at me with what seemed to me to be dismay at the discovery; and even admiration. "We, Wraith, have such a long life that our ways and our story stay the same over millenniums. The only history we have is our creation by the Ancients and the centuries we came together as a race and turned all that the Ancients gave us against them to become the masters of Pegasus. Since then, the world changed around us, we adapted; yet we did not really change. The humans on Pegasus, although they have a short life, their story is shaped by the Wraiths and our immobility in time; so it stays the same. They just survive from generation to generation. However, the humans of Earth, have a long and changing story, in the strangest and most violent way. They are so much like Wraiths that I do not think of you anymore as I think of the humans of this Galaxy. I found in your history ideas that the Wraith could adapt, that would make us even more powerful."

Oh, great, Elena! That's what you get for devouring history as your pastime! Even when making love to a Wraith—did I just say 'making love'? I suppose that mind melding was a form of Wraith love mating—you're thinking of freaking history. "And what ideas are those?" I asked suspiciously. I also wondered what else he had found in my mind.

"One idea. The Wraiths are being weakened by the tradition of separate and individual hives led by Queens who are rivals. They are what you call killing machines that waste Wraith resources on ritualistic fights. Our alliance making—diplomacy, I think you call it—is one continuous act of warfare. In your mind, I have acquired the idea of a Master Wraith who would create a new kind of Queens that would lead hives under the command of this Master Wraith who is not bound to any of the Queen's rituals of feeding and ascendancy."

"You being that Master Wraith."

"I am the one with the idea and the plan. Yes." His amber eyes shifted their gaze on me. "It would be quite beneficial for both our races."

"Rival Queens killing one another is a lot more beneficial to us."

He grinned. "You cannot fight us to the end, Doctor Elena Vries. We are thousands of years old. Your life cycle is too short. I think you would be better off dealing with me now and during your future life cycles. In our alliance we can maintain a balance of control and power. Certainly, Atlantis and Earth would benefit from an alliance with me."

"You are aware that what humans agree to in this life cycle could be overturned in the next?"

"I am aware. You are fickle race and your memory and thoughts are as short lived as your lives. That's why you have history. To remind yourselves. But, also it's your history that will make you continue with this alliance in the next human cycles."

I took in what he said and pondered over it. There was something supremely intelligent and cunning in all this; yet, there was something terribly innocent as well. A long lived species, with long memory and unchanging ways; and no history. But, everyone has history…

I asked warily: "And how do you plan to do this?"

"I started by creating a Queen that is less interested in the pleasure of feeding and more interested in serving the hive and the Wraiths, but being dependant on them for her life. I can see already that, except for the rebellion of youth, she understands that the power of the Wraith and powerful alliances are a far greater achievement. I will create several Queens like this, who will destroy the feeding Queens and take control of their hives. The Wraiths of the feeding Queens would much prefer my Queen and would quickly abandon their own." He smiled. "The Wraith are masters at calculating survival risks." He came a step closer. "We are going to evolve, with your DNA, in a more varied, advanced and powerful Wraith." He grinned. "Besides, making sure that my Queen cannot feed upon me is the only way to keep the terms of our alliance—I stay alive."

I went past his last remark and to the heart of what he had said: "You plan to create more Queens?"

"Yes."

"With my DNA…"

"Yes."

"And, unless you've got quite a few of my DNA stashed away, how do you plan to obtain it?"

There was a small smile on his face; a Wraith smile. "You will give your DNA to me again."

"And through what astonishing and breathtaking Wraith calculation did you arrive at the conclusion and certainty that I will give it to you?"

"You will come to the same conclusion and certainty."

"Really? Not that you are not winsome in your own ways, but I am still thinking about how to react to your love making technique."

"You liked my… technique very much, Doctor Vries."

This Wraith was an astonishing piece of self-confidence. "And how in the blazes, in your Wraith mind, are you so sure of it?"

"Because of something else I learned when I heard your thoughts."

"Surprise me." Uh oh…

"You are love with me."

He looked at me with such a satisfied smile that I found myself at loss for words and a reaction.

Once I fully realized what he had said, I didn't know whether I should laugh at the word 'love' in the mouth of a Wraith, or do the typical indignant human female thing and punch him in the jaw for his supreme arrogance and presumption. Yes, it was breathtaking…

I did neither. My logical mind took over and coolly entreated me that this was a Wraith. As cunning, manipulative and conniving as he was, and intelligent, he took human emotions at face value, and while good at manipulating them and perhaps even intrigued by human feelings, he was not aware of their subtle value to humans. To say nothing of the impossibility of a human being in love with a Wraith.

This was going too far all together.

I stiffened in a rather military pose and took on the persona of the Atlantis 'queen.' "We're done here," I said. "You have the agreement from Earth. Anything else?"

"No."

I turned around and walked to the door.

"Doctor Vries!" he called after me.

I stopped but didn't turn.

"Stay a little longer."

Startled, I turned slowly.

"I enjoy our discussions," he said. The sun shone in his eyes and they were now golden again. "It's going to be a little while before my hives return to orbit."

"Your Queen does not require your presence?"

"She is being kept busy. Atlantis interests her greatly."

"I hope she doesn't get too attached to it."

I walked back to the rail and joined the Wraith in looking at the quiet surface of the water turning golden as the sun sank behind us, the city throwing long shadows at our feet. Far, in the darkening horizon, the third moon of the planet, a softly reddish orb, was rising.

I stood next to the Wraith, waiting for him to 'converse.' But he was silent. I observed him from the corner of my eye—the strands of white hair falling on his shoulders, the intricate design of the leather sleeve, the elaborate hilt of the dagger hanging at his hip (how did we miss that?), the tip of the boot showing from under the hem of the long coat. My gaze travelled back up to his arm, and then down to his hand on the rail. The killing hand was relaxed, strangely graceful in its pose. The guards over three fingers were deeply blue, with speckles of silver, intricately carved of that resin material of his ship. It was part of his hand, a deadly piece of ornament. At close quarters, under the light of day, the skin of his hand looked smooth, almost golden colored in the golden light of the setting sun. I wondered if the hand was cold and clammy, or just cold. I put my hand out and touched the top of his hand with the tip of my fingers.

The Commander whipped his head towards me and his demeanor changed so quickly that I had no chance to even blink. His eyes turned a sharp yellow and he let out a feral hiss that cut through me like a knife of pure fear. My heart stopped. He pulled his hand from my touch and lashed out at me with it. He stopped a breath away from my chest.

"Calm down!" I said quietly and rather absurdly, without forethought. I had to speak quietly—my throat was too closed by fear to allow for a loud voice. I stared him in the eyes.

He lowered his arm slowly and the hiss subsided. He took a step back, but his face was still feral. He paced away from me.

The swift change to his feral side had been so quick and so complete that it took my breath away.. Had my touch triggered his feeding urge? Had I touched some nerve on his feeding hand that sent signals and flooded his brain with the uncontrollable desire for the pleasure of feeding upon me? He had stopped himself and it seemed to have taken all his will power to do so. He was breathing rapidly and more deeply, as if trying to recover from the effort.

I had witnessed how much will power it took for him to resist feeding upon me. Now I knew; and I trembled inside.

When he put enough distance between us he said, the hiss still in his voice. "My mistaken reaction, Doctor Vries."

I nodded.

I could tell that he was still controlling his temper. "I meant no harm; or offense."

"I am not offended. You are Wraith." Perhaps the disappointment showed in my voice, or my face. I did not know how good Wraiths were at reading a human's face. But, from the way he tilted his head slightly to the side, like an observing preying mantis, I could sense that he had detected something in me. "I do not know your way s," I added. "But, I am hoping that feeding upon me is not part of your grandiose scheme and clever plan." I wanted to take his mind away from whatever desire he was suppressing and divert it to his clever plans. "This was a very well laid out plan, Commander. Every step, some I did not even imagine, was part of your plan." Why was I getting angry. "The only thing that was not part of your plan was me running into that Wraith on the planet. I give you one for being a superb opportunist and quick thinker." In what must've been seconds, this Wraith saw the possibilities and hatched his plan. It had come out of his brain fully formed and ready to go by the time I was transported to his hive. "The moment that Wraith sniffed me, it became a plan." I was angry. I was spewing at him. "Everything that followed was part of your plan." Why was I mad and feeling so used? This was a Wraith. Nothing more, nothing else.

"Not everything I did was part of the plan to achieve and strengthen our alliance."

I let out a dismissive sigh. "Of course not. As I said, me, of all people, the one with the gene, finding your Wraith and spending the time to untie him until he had a chance to call you, that was my own clever plan and contribution to our alliance."

"I gave you my name." His voice snapped at me. Was there disappointment in his voice? "That has nothing to do with the plan, as you call it."

I stared at him. "No?"

"I did not have to do that."

"Why did you? You are Wraith; all things have a motive."

"I do not know."

"Well… that's a simple answer."

I became very still. Suddenly, a small spot of heat appeared in the middle of my right hand's palm. "What did you give me that you would only give to a Queen? Your Queen told me that you did. Something more than your name?"

"Yes." He walked towards me. "When I fused my essence with yours I gave you the right to my life."

He stretched out his right hand to me; his feeding hand, palm down. He held it from of me, steady as a rock, without the faintest movement in it

I put my hand over his, the warm spot in my palm touching him. I saw him stiffen, could sense his muscles coil. But, he didn't move. The skin of his hand was not cold. It was cool, cooled by the ocean breeze, and smooth. The guards were not of metal and they felt neutral in warmth.

He turned his hand under mine and my palm touched his. I could feel the hot line of the opening. Heat bloomed from the touch and like a ribbon it snaked through my arm and to my heart and spread out through my body. I could not move; did not wish to move as the heat became long strands and wisps of fantastic, fabulous colors, blues and gold twirling inside me and around me. The scent of deep forests bathed in sun and the perfume of the sky and water shrouded me in its soft veils. I rose on the wings of the wind that became a iridescent moth of gold and amber. Incredible beauty filled every sense of my mind and bathed me with the happiness so profound that I could not encompass and fully grasp with my poor mind. It transcended physical pleasure and took it to a level only a mind that understood dimensions beyond space and time could absorb.

Reality tore through with the long whine of a Wraith ship engines. I opened my eyes and saw over the surface of the ocean the black shapes of two Wraith cruisers glide away into the sky. I was still standing in the same spot, facing the water, my hand hovering over what now was an empty space. As the cruisers receded into the void above the planet, the heat in my palm subsided until it was no more than a small, icy spot.

I turned on my heels and walked into the conference room. The doors swung open and I gazed into the empty foyer. Moira waited for me at the foot of the stairs.

"The Queen and her Commander have departed," she said.

The Colonel stood in the entrance to the long hallway and said: "That's done. And that was strange."

"Yes, very," I agreed with him readily. He didn't know how truly strange it had been.

By the end of the day- a long day of assessment, reports and analysis—the dots that showed Wraith hives on our tracking screen started to flicker out, one by one, in rapid succession, like stars being snuffed out. Suddenly the screen looked placid, only a few red dots still shimmering. And they as well drifted towards the outer edges of the screen.

"They are really gone," Doctor Bernard's voiced what we were all thinking. "I wonder where…"

"Me too," Colonel Santos mused. "I really do."

"There are many parts of this galaxy we don't know; neither did the Ancients. Only the Wraiths know them; and know them well."

The Colonel turned to me. "Other than that are going to parts unchartered by the Ancients they gave no hint of where they would be?"

Doctor Bernard stared pensively at the screen. "The tip of the Galaxy's spirals have not been explored by the Ancients. Those places are rich in stars; probably planets. The Ancients only really explored a small corner, populated by humans; as far as we know." He tapped the screen. "But, even more vast is this area—the bulge of the galaxy, the center. No one has been there."

"From the direction of the hives, as they disappeared," the Colonel said, "it seems that they moved into the tips of the spiral."

"I wonder…" Doctor Bernard mused. "I would be surprised if they would give us such an easy hint."

"They could be going in that direction then double up around and below the bulge. We would not be able to detect them."

"True…" Doctor Bernard raised his shoulders in a gesture typical of him that signified irritation with himself for not knowing the answer. "If we only knew. It would be an incredible opportunity."

"For what?" I asked. A silly question, because I knew what the opportunity would be.

The Colonel answered instead. "I am sure that Earth would want to consider the option of using the Wraiths' hibernation to gain the upper hand in the Galaxy."

"Sneak up on them while they're asleep and go 'boom'?" I said.

"In very un-military terms, yes," the Colonel answered.

"Or," Doctor Bernard said, "something that would appeal more to your scientific mind, Doctor Vries, we could return to working on the retrovirus, perfect it and sneak up on them and go 'poof.' "

"All of them a possibility," I said. "And that is why the Wraith did not tell us where they were going." And that is why I did not ask.

"Obviously," Doctor Bernard quipped.

"Obviously," the Colonel agreed.

"Obviously," I seconded.

"Besides," Doctor Bernard shrugged, "we wouldn't do such a thing, would we?"

"Of course not," I said and demonstratively rolled my eyes. "Never."

"Neither would the Wraiths, right?" the Colonel quipped.

"Nuh… never!" Doctor Bernard and I answered in a sarcastic chorus. Then he shrugged again. "I'm hungry. Anyone cares for a snack?"

"I'm game after al this," the Colonel stated.

I said, suddenly feeling drained: "Let's call it a day." I turned to the team monitoring the galaxy. "Keep an eye on things. Just because the screen is emptying of Wraiths, don't forget—they are Wraiths."

With that, I left the control room and gate area, and returned to my quarters, Moira behind me.

Inside my quarters, I told Moira to leave me and closed the doors on the world. I was alone at long last and while staring over the ocean, the light of the two moons rippling over its black waves, I finally allowed one solitary thought wash over me—by the time the Wraith with amber eyes would wake up, I would no longer exist. A terrible, forlorn loneliness filled me.

And yet, the Commander had a plan for a different world of the Wraith. He was a natural killer, yet he thought beyond it. That plan involved me.

Absentmindedly, I started to take off my uniform. I peeled off my tunic and threw it on the chair. It slipped off and fell to the floor, making a sound that drew me out of my thoughts. I lifted it up and felt an unusual weight. I put my hand in the pocket and took out a thin, translucent, blue square piece of what looked like the resin on the Commander's hive ship.

I held it in my hand and turned it around. There was nothing on it except for some fine carvings. It was organic and it was, now I knew, part of a living Wraith. Like its tears… Did Wraiths cry?

What an odd thought.

I kept looking at it. No doubt the Commander had slipped it in my pocket. A souvenir? A reminder?

"And what tricksy trick is this, my tricky Wraith?" I asked aloud. I put it on my nightstand under the lamp and returned to undressing.

After I finished my evening ablutions, took in a few deep breaths of the ocean air and put on my nightgown—I insisted on my nice, satin one tonight; why, I could not imagine—and slipped into bed. I rubbed my palm—the small dot of cold was still there, like a healed scar. I reached with the hand to the lamp and held it there, the cold spot facing the hot bulb. It still felt like a bit of ice.

My gaze fell on the piece of blue amber. I took it, and cradled it in my hand, contemplating its feel against that spot of dead flesh in the middle of my palm.

I let out a small cry as a shot of heat, like a red hot needle pierced my hand. I almost dropped the piece of amber, but stopped when it started to glow softly. The glow intensified and it flowed into a square on the surface that looked a lot like a screen.

And a screen it was. On it appeared a map of the galaxy. It rotated and zoomed to show the planet of Atlantis. Then it moved and twisted in a three dimensional rendition. A dot moved from Atlantis through the void between suns and novas, and red giants and black holes, drawing a path. It reached a far corner of the Galaxy, one that did not appear on any of our charts; one we did not even know existed. There it stopped within a small constellation.

I took the piece of amber in my other hand and it darkened, returning to its inert form. I put it slowly on the nightstand, next to the other mementos of my life, which I liked to see last before I fell asleep and see first when I awoke.

I turned off the light and the glow of the two moons filled my room.

He had indeed entrusted me with his life. The gift of a Wraith.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

Morning rose in the open doors of the terrace and I woke up with a start. In the zone between dreamless sleep and reality, the events of the day before seeped in, first like shifting ghosts then taking form, passing through my mind one by one, as real as if they stood in front of me—the Wraith Queen with my DNA and no feeding hand; the Commander with his grand plans for the Wraith race that, somehow, included me; the lonely feeling; the questions; and the frustrating lack of understanding of a Wraith's mind; or rather of THIS Wraith's mind. What was wrong in my world, was not in his; what was right in his world, was not in mine… And the nagging, corroding thought that I was nothing but a piece of his plans; an easily manipulated human; a vessel of DNA for his race. That worm of anger squirmed inside me.

I threw off the covers and sat up. Moira stood at the foot of the bed waiting my orders. I did not know for how long she had been there, awaiting my awakening; as if she was waiting for a Wraith's awakening, the odd thought crossed my mind.

With the Commander's visit, she seemed to have become even more—wasn't sure how to describe it; even more 'devoted'; or attentive; or… whatever. I really didn't want to use the world servile. It was as if she had been injected with some drug or enzyme that had started to fade before his reappearance but had been renewed now.

The same drug or enzyme I've been injected with?

I met her eyes. "Moira," I said, modulating my voice to display quiet authority.

She bowed. Deeper than before.

"Your master," I started, "has given me his rights over you."

"Yes."

"I have the power of life and death over you, according to him. And being a Wraith, he truly means life and death. I am correct in that?"

"Yes." She bowed again.

"If your loyalty fails me, he has given me the choice to eliminate you by whatever means I think appropriate." I was listening to myself and shuddered a bit; I was doing a very impressive imitation of a Wraith. "I will not kill you with my own hands," I continued on the path of threats, "but I will lift my protecting hand off you. You know what that means?"

She nodded, She was a little bit pale.

"But, this is not of concern." I smiled. "You have proven your loyalty and even your friendship."

She nodded and lifted her gaze. "After all," she said softly, "it is easier to love a human master than a Wraith. Although…" she attempted her own smile, "a human could never be the benevolent and perfect master a Wraith could be." She stared at me. "They certainly would not crave our friendship or affection."

Her words made me pause. Was that an advice, or warning? I let it pass, my mind bent on the benevolence of the Wraith. Whatever it was, I was certain a human could not match the form it took. It was what had molded Moira's soul of a worshipper. And that is what I wanted to know. "Tell me, Moira—how does a Wraith obtain and keep your devotion?"

Obviously, it didn't always work; to wit the killing of the Wraith I had encountered on the planet of winds.

Moira swallowed. "They do it by taking our life then giving it back to us."

That we all knew. "That's all?" I said dismissively.

"They take the life slowly, the pain prolonged. But, then when they return it, it is the sweetest and most exhilarating feeling any human could experience. You would not know it, because when the gift was given to you, it was for healing." Her eyes were gleaming with some inner delight. "You would not know…" She suddenly seemed lost in her own thoughts. There was a light tremor in her hands, as if she was experiencing a whiff of the pleasure of the gift. She looked at me almost feverishly. "It becomes a craving that burns in our gut. We desire it more and more with each gift, a longing that nothing can satisfy, until we break down like madmen and howl for it until it is given to us; if we deserve it. If not, we die at our own hand to relieve the pain."

I looked at her without hiding my disquiet at her words. "All these years you've been with me…"

"It was hell. But, it was my sacrifice for my master."

"How do they give you this gift?"

"The worshippers' gift," she specified. "The same as they take our life. With the hand on our throat." She seemed puzzled at my question.

"Tell me in detail."

She took in a breath. "It is not an easy task for the Wraith," she said. "That is why it is done rarely, and only to the ones who have been singled out for devotion. We are left to desire it until we nearly go mad. The Wraith sense when that happens. We are summoned by the Commander, or the Queen if there's one. If we are found to be especially devoted and of service, then the gift is given to us by the Queen or commander themselves. If it is only to maintain us, then it is given by the other Wraith, who are less skilled in this. Sometimes the heart stops. We kneel and worship and plead with traditional words. Ceremonially, we open the front of our vestments, and the Wraith grabs us and slowly, very slowly takes our life away, until we scream in agony. And then, at that special point, where pain and anticipation become overwhelming, slowly they return life to us, the pleasure of which obliterates everything."

"When the Commander was here, yesterday, did he give you the worshipper's gift?" Something weird squirmed inside me. Surely not jealousy.

"Of course," she said, suddenly sounding proud. "I have served him and you, as no other worshipper."

Yes, of course… "What about the ones who turned against him?"

She sighed. "They were not born in the hive to worshippers," she answered. "They tempted us and misled us. We paid dearly for it."

"How about Doria?"

Her face darkened. "She's dead. The Commander withdrew the gift of life from her because of her hate for you. She died by her own hand."

I trembled inside. This was indeed a game of life and death. "When?"

"After my fellow worshipers were taken back from you. She had been plotting against you."

"Why?"

"She was misled and had lost her way. She was jealous of you, that you have taken the Commander's interest away from her."

"Interest?"

"Doria was his most devoted worshipper. She reported to him on everything and she was our mistress for the Wraiths. The Commander spoke to her mind. But she had the audacity to put herself on the same footing as you, to think of you as equal to her in the mind of the Commander. She was fatally mistaken."

"I was not equal to a worshipper?" I asked, the demon of my suspicions—that I was not more than another form of worshipper to the Commander—rearing its ugly head.

"Oh, no!" Moira flinched. "Never! From the beginning you were above us. You had honored the Wraith as only a Wraith would; and you took the Commander as a mate as only a Queen would. You gave the Wraith a Queen, as only a Wraith queen would. You have been given the gifts of a Queen."

It took me a while to ask the next question as an unexpected feeling of happiness filled me. But, startled by it, I tried to suppress it, cautioning myself of the foolishness of such a feeling. I shook my head. Absurd. ABSURD. I then had to ask the next question: "Are the male Wraiths male like humans?"

Moira seemed to ponder the question for a second. "I hear that they are."

"You _hear_?"

"I hear that they discarded that ability when they turned against the Ancients, and separated themselves from all human ways." She added, softly: "Their pleasure is elsewhere. No human knows anything of it.

With one exception, perhaps?

"With one exception," Moira echoed my thoughts. "I have never heard of another, besides you."

I rose from bed and paced to the terrace doors. "When they give you the worshipper's gift, do they always take your life first?" I turned to face her again.

"Yes. Otherwise it would not be what it is."

My breath was a bit shallow. The Commander had not taken my life first. He had simply put his hand on me and drew me into another world. And then, my hand in his—

"Do they ever touch you in any other way?" I asked. "Like putting your hand in their feeding hand—"

She looked at me indignantly. "That is done only between a Wraith and his Queen."

My heart stopped and then fluttered quickly. She added, gravely: "He has given you his life." She pointed to the square piece of blue amber on my night stand.

So, she knew what it was… I stared at it and then picked it up. I put it in my right palm. It was cold and lifeless. I looked at Moira.

"It will alight when needed," she said.

I held it in both my hands. There was a soft point of heat in my palm. But, I said nothing of that.

"What will happen to you, Moira, without the Wraith's gift? They are gone."

Moira straightened her shoulders. "The Commander has given me to you. He has given me the rest of my natural life. Doing without the Gift is how I will prove my true devotion and loyalty."

A thought suddenly crossed my mind. "What happens to the other worshipers now, while the Wraith are in hibernation?"

Moira pushed her chin up and looked squarely at me. "They have performed the ultimate act of devotion to their Wraith lords—they were fed upon to provide the sustenance the Commander and the hive will need for hibernation."

They were all dead… I felt cold. Very cold.

"It's only you and me," Moira whispered. "To protect the Wraith."

I clasped the amber communicator in my hands. I said: "And what are exactly the orders the Commander has given you?"

"To protect you."

"Protect me?"

"I would protect you by informing the hive that you are in danger."

"Really…"

"Also, I am to inform you of anything I hear that might threaten and harm the Commander and his Queen and hive."

"And what about informing him of any harm I might want to bring on his hive?"

She looked at me long. "You will not harm the Commander and his hive."

"You are certain…"

"You are the Keeper of the Commander's hive." She added. "Like no other Keeper the Wraith has ever had."

Those words were almost incomprehensible to me. Yet, in some bizarre way, in a way one would find only among the mad, they spoke the truth.

"Are the Wraith known for insanity?" I quipped, feeling as if I've fallen into a vortex of madness.

Moira smiled: "No. They are known for their intelligence and cunning; and clever plans."

"Then how do you explain this?" I spread my arms out.

"You belong more to Wraith than to humans. You are the Queen of the strongest alliance and thus the Keeper." She bowed deeper. "My Queen."

PART 3

Fear, retreat and confusion have never been part of my repertory. I have experienced one of these sentiments at various times in my life—I would not be human if I did not—but when I experienced one, it did not bring on the other two. This time, confusion was my undoing. The confusion of being both the head of Atlantis with the responsibility of protecting every single human in it and lending aid and protection to every human in the galaxy against the Wraiths, and being suddenly designated The Keeper of a Wraith alliance, thus protector of the Wraiths against all threats, which would inevitably come from Atlantis and other humans, and also apparently some kind of weird Queen of theirs, brought on fear of having the choose between humans and Wraiths. The choice would seem simple to most; were it not for the bizarre, unexpected and inexplicable attachment I had to a certain Wraith Commander. To that we had to add the existence of a Wraith Queen who was, by the law of genetics and nature, half my progeny, the other half being that same Wraith Commander.

That I have created a being with a Wraith finally threw me off balance. It was a highly intelligent being, part after my image; part after a Wraith's image.

Confused and fearful, I became the coward I never thought existed in me—several months after my encounter with the Commander and Amanda, as Pegasus indeed seemed to quiet down (the few rogue Wraiths hives still roaming around became insignificant), I relinquished my command of Atlantis and asked for a transfer back to Earth.

The IOA delayed its response for another six months. I gave them scant reason why I was doing this, some inane statement about 'career path' no one believed. The only ones to understand, and who seemed to have taken an oath of silence, were Doctor Bernard and Colonel Santos. Moira, o n the other hand, seemed shocked and for the first time since I first met her on the Commander's hive, I saw again that flicker of dislike and even hate. It made me shudder, but it also increased my resolve to get out.

"Moira," I called her on the evening before my departure, having asked her to help me pack a few things for my journey back.

She turned and bowed, but her eyes avoided me.

"Moira," I said, "I will need you now more than ever."

She raised her gaze and looked at me suspiciously.

"You are the connection now between the Commander and me. As he meant it to be. He knew that sooner or later, inevitably, I will return to Earth."

"What will you be able to do from there?" she came back at me and there was nothing nice in her voice.

"Moira," I said after taking a deep breath. "You think and speak as a worshipper. You do not have divided loyalties. But I do. The Commander knew and understood that in spite of his actions. I fear the orders I might get from Earth." I paused, then said what was on my mind. "I don't trust the motives of the Earth command."

"But, if you were here, if such orders came through, you would be able to counter them."

"No, Moira. To do that would be going against my own kind; it would be treason."

"You are the Keeper! You cannot leave. Your duty is with the hive."

"No, Moira. It is you who calls me a Keeper. The Commander has never called me anything. He had the need to go in hibernation, and he hoped that with me, he will buy the necessary time to hide somewhere beyond the gate system, some place so far and hidden that our human lives would be too short to reach it." I sat down, with the hands abandoned in my lap in a gesture of despair. "Moira, hear me." I swallowed hard before I spoke the next words. "I love your Commander. And that cannot be. It is not wrong, it is not right. It just cannot be."

The look in her eyes seemed to have changed at my last words. "Is such a thing possible?" she whispered.

"I have to go, Moira," I said, my voice breaking. "I have to go…" I put my face in my hands. "You are the only connection I have to the Commander. It breaks my heart to go." I started to cry.

Moira was now close to me. Perhaps she wanted to kill me; I would not be surprised. But her hand fell on my shoulder gently. "Yes, my Queen. You must go. You are weakening, and that puts you in danger among Wraiths. Come back when you are strong again. I will stay here."

My tears abated quickly; I was not the emotional type. I stood up and wiped my eyes. "You know better than anyone else, that emotion is lost on the Wraith. The Commander would not understand it and would not even recognize it."

"Perhaps…" she mused and returned to helping me pack.

Leaving Atlantis was not as much of conundrum to me as it was leaving the Commander's hives and Queen Amanda. Atlantis was guaranteed a leader and the continuing operation; although it would not have the power of a leader who also affected, at least on the surface, the behavior of the Wraiths. Leaving the Commander was more radical; yet, these were Wraith. As someone had once famously said—they won't lose sleep over it.

Next day, I stood in front of the Stargate, the Atlantis team gathered around me and up the stairs to wish me well and say goodbye. The gate chevrons lit and moved, locking in each symbol of the Earth address. When the last chevron locked, the gate came alight, a burst of blue coming forth from it. As everyone applauded me, I stepped through, carrying with me two small suitcases.

I was aware more than anyone else about the prohibition on taking Pegasus artifacts to Earth, no matter how inoffensive or insignificant. I wrote the rule. This interdict was even more imperative when it came to Wraith objects. Yet, I carried in my suitcase the Wraith outfit I was given during my stay on the Commander's hive; and the amber tablet.

My arrival on Earth, a mere twenty seconds after stepping into the wormhole, was greeted with polite words of welcome. The IOA was displeased, but not displeased enough not to avail themselves of my expertise and my advice. Before I even had a chance to go home—wherever that was anymore—I was called upon to be part of the main board as a scientific advisor on Pegasus, but more than anything else, as an expert on Wraith and the liaison with Atlantis.

Suspicious as ever of the IOA—their obfuscation, lack of action and obtuseness being the fuel for much of my paranoia regarding this august body—I could not quite escape the feeling that their benevolence towards me and even a certain degree of fawning, had something a lot less benevolent behind it. I held tightly to my secrets; the foremost among them being the amber tablet.

Slowly, my obsession with the Wraith Commander slipped away from me as the little nugget of cold and hot in my palm did not manifest itself and somehow my memories grew strangely dim. I could not recall the Commander's name. I did not dare to try the amber tablet. I would not dare; I didn't think anything would happen, but one did not take chances with a Wraith; especially one as dangerous and supremely clever and inventive as the Commander. The temptation was great; very great to let it light up and perhaps touch his existence. But I did not.

Bent on returning to normal, a year later I married. But the secrets I had to keep—not just the secrets of the mission, but my connection with an alien being—made me a stranger and a deceiver in this marriage.

The pivotal moment came one morning when, half awake, I felt a touch on my neck. Half inside a dream, a felt an immense bliss that filled me with golden light. I opened my eyes anticipating with overflowing happiness to see the Commander as I had seen him on the sunlit terrace of Atlantis. His name came to me, like a glimpse, a flash of colors and a distant wafting of spicy scents.

Somewhere in my subconscious I wondered why I could suddenly see him and recall his name when it had been so silent for so long.

My breath was cut short and a cold, forlorn feeling of disappointment shrouded the very core of my soul when I saw that the hand on my throat was that of my human husband who was doing his little pre-conjugal rights ritual. Before I could think, I drew away from him, as violently as a Wraith would have when so touched by a human.

My husband sat up startled and stared at me, something akin to fear in his eyes. "What?" he whined.

Oh, yes. My human husband did what all male humans did well—whine.

"You should've seen your face," he said, now pouting. "You didn't even look like you."

"A dream…"

"You have those a lot. " He rose from bed and went in the bathroom leaving the door open; an annoying habit.

I dropped back on the pillow and stared at the ceiling. There was an itch inside me that nothing could scratch. I've seen worlds and I've done things, and I've been places that, I realized, had forever placed me outside the ordinary life I was trying so desperately to lead. But, above all, out there, very far away, beyond this galaxy and across others, there was a Wraith who had changed me. And I suppose I changed him.

I tried again to bring back the name of colors and scents that brought with it that golden light of delight. But, my memories were silent again. Had it been truly just a half dream and just the feel of a hand on my chest that had jolted something dormant? Nothing more? I looked at my husband's reflection in the bathroom mirror visible through the half open door. I juxtaposed his image over that of the Commander with amber eyes. There was a vague flutter inside me; so vague that it disappeared before I could capture it. I was empty again.

I closed my eyes. I was in trouble; big, freaking trouble. It was hopeless; and I was trapped. I admitted it to myself with self flagellating cruelty and brutality-my husband, the one I chose and convinced myself that I loved, looked dull, retarded and a prick next to that being in the far world of Pegasus, the Wraith whose eyes turned amber gold when looking at me. No sugar coating this. My human husband lost out to a Wraith. I giggled immensely amused just of a sudden. I think I was hysterical.

"It's someone else, isn't it?"

I opened my eyes and found myself staring into my husband's face, looming over the footboard of the bed. And that remark brought out a great laugh out of me. Oh, yes, there's someone else.

"Don't be absurd," I replied.

"Don't blow me over, Elena!" He was angry.

Tough cheese. I rose on my right elbow. "Any suggestions as to who this someone else is?" I countered flippantly, suddenly enjoying the absurdity of the conversation; and the irony.

"No, I don't have a suggestion!" he answered, looking as if he'd been hit with a wet rag.

"You've just made an accusation," I said, "so, you must be basing it on something!"

"You're self absorbed, whenever I want to get close to you, you either start looking at your right hand—which does weird me out—or you react like you want to kill me, like this morning. You looked feral."

Feral? I didn't think he knew that word. But, that was an interesting choice. I looked at my hand and flexed the fingers.

"Like that!" he exclaimed.

"Hm," I answered. "You're the psychiatrist—" Yes, I married one of THEM. "What do you think it is?"

"I don't psychoanalyze my wife!"

"That's nice…"

He was silent for a while. Then he said, slowly: "There's someone else, isn't it? You are seeing him, aren't you?"

I stared back at him. "You still haven't told me how you've come to that conclusion and if you have a candidate from our circle of acquaintances."

"I don't want to live in a sea of lies with you," he said and sounded very plaintive. Whining again. "I can understand the secrecy of some of your work with the military, although even that is so boneheaded. Is it someone you are working with?"

"The truth? Fine. You asked for it." I got out of bed, put on my robe and went to my office. From there I took out the Wraith black leather outfit and the amber tablet. I returned with them to the bedroom and slammed them on the bed. "Do you see these?"

He scratched the stubble on his chin. "I've wondered about them."

"You looked through my things?" My voice went up. Now I felt anger. The reason for it was on many levels.

"You would too, if you suspected me!"

Actually, no. But, I let it pass.

"Well," I continued with my original narrative, "these are gifts from my lover."

He looked at me suspiciously. "Rather odd…" He put out his hand to touch the outfit.

"Don't touch!"

He retracted his hand and looked at me completely confused. He said, to cover for it: "You and he going to those comic character conferences?" He seemed to try to muster all the mock he could at that moment.

"Well, he's different. You see," I could feel a smile twitch on my face, "he's not like you; like us."

"What, uh, nationality is he?"

Oh, you little prick! I know what's going through your mind.

"He's not a nationality. He's a race."

"Race?" His lips twisted getting ready for some devastating sarcasm; he could do those on occasion.

"Correct that," I said. "He's a species of intelligent being. He's what is called a Wraith. Part human DNA, part bug DNA. Yellow eyes with slits, like a cat, long white hair, kind of pale, greenish face; tall. Sucks the life out of humans. Flies around in spaceships they call hives. Seems to have a preference of mating with red headed female humans."

He stared at me completely uncomprehending. Then his face suddenly flushed red. "How dare you!" he yelled.

"You asked for the truth. You got it." Yes, you did!

"I will not permit you to make a mockery of me and this marriage!" He now sounded violent.

It was at that point that I recalled that I had faced, and faced it well, a deadly Wraith and no human compared to that. I also remembered that I had been trained to fight in combat and kill. Something the hapless fool in front of me could not even conceive, let alone suspect or fathom. He had gotten a glimpse of it that morning. I took on the Commander's pose—arrogant, straight backed, dangerous, sneering. "Are you done?"

He gulped but took a step towards me. It was threatening or even quick. But, as if by instinct, I put my hand out and before I knew what I was doing, I slammed my right hand on his chest. He let out a gasp and his eyes widened as he stared back at me, a fear in his pupils I never thought I'd see in the eyes of anyone looking at me. I felt a very icy needle in the middle of my palm. He staggered back and quickly moved out of my range, his eyes on me all this time, like prey on a predator.

I was as stunned as he was. But, I recovered quicker than he. I said, very quietly and very coldly: "I know of ways to kill that you cannot even imagine." And that was apparently true, because I knew in my deepest instincts that if had kept my hand on his throat, I would've done him harm to the point of death. "Ways," I added, "no coroner would be able to describe." Yeah, like sucking you dry… Then I added, breezily: "I think I want a divorce. What do you say?"

"Yes…" he said, somehow having recovered also, "I think it's wise."

I think he thought I was clinically insane. Perhaps I was.

It was then that I noticed the amber tablet glowing in the folds of the comforter on the bed. It faded as soon as I looked at it. I took in a deep breath. Somehow it has sensed danger and somehow it had reached beyond that room and galaxy and somehow powers were transmitted to me that were not mine. Or, had it reached for me first and that was why I recalled the Commander name for a flash? Is that why I acted the way I did?

For the first time since I left Atlantis, I could feel the Wraith close. And now it was me who was afraid. The very reaction I had had to my husband's—my ex-husband's—hand on my chest and throat had been out of ordinary, unusual. A warning. Something had happened. Something was happening.

The phone rang. I looked at the ID. It was the number of the IOA. I picked it up.

"Doctor Vries?"

"Yes."

"We're patching through a communication from Atlantis."

I froze.

"Colonel Santos here," I heard a familiar voice. "I think you better come over."

I didn't ask what was wrong or why I was needed. I was just eager to go. I made my suitcase, buried the amber tablet with the Wraith outfit at the bottom of my pack and took the first flight out to Stargate Command. Reaching Atlantis was a three step trip that took over a week, and included a very long and boring bout in hyperspace on the Daedalus. As far as any information on what was going on, all I got from the Daedalus commander was that 'the Wraith are not sleeping as peacefully as we had hoped and are not having beautiful dreams of endless fields of humans.'

Colonel Santos, Doctor Bernard and my replacement as the leader of Atlantis, Cyril Feng (don't ask…) stood at the bottom of the steps as I walked out of the Atlantis stargate. My gaze flew up the steps, in an instinctive and foolish, and absurd—and startling—hope (or desire) to catch the image of a tall figure in black with white hair and pale face. All I saw was Moira, her hands clasped in front of her, looking gaunt and old.

But, as if to welcome me back in the Pegasus, colors and scents fluttered for a moment through my mind and senses and I thought of an amber moth. Then it faded, the feeling of delight just as transitory. My palm was quiet.

"Doctor Feng," I greeted the man who had taken my place.

"Doctor Vries," he offered me a nod of his head and a hand shake. He looked stressed.

I glanced quickly at Santos and Bernard. Both faces were expressionless.

"It is unfortunate," Feng started, "that we had to interrupt your life on Earth. This was not my idea."

Odd thing to say in welcome. I sniffed something in the air. I never thought of feeling and emotions having a smell, but this time there was a smell, and it was emanating from Feng. It was acrid; like someone who had not washed for a while. I glanced at Feng again. He didn't seem to lack in personal hygiene. As a matter of fact he was a fastidious little man.

I realized suddenly that I was flexing my right hand; an unnerving instinctive sign of emotion; although I could not discern what emotion.

Feng had a grim, almost angry look in his normally blank eyes. I knew him to be a man of slow decision making, who would waste more energy on covering his *ss than taking action. Was I there to cover his sorry *ss?

I smiled inwardly—I have a little surprise for you, little man. My days of playing devoted team member are gone. Why they are gone, I don't know; may be I am just not in mood. It's my game, not yours.

"Let's not waste time," I said, hearing my own dismissive impatience in my voice. "I assume it is something about Wraith."

Feng was fidgeting with his fingers on his throat.

Santos sent me a smile and a wink. It was Bernard who spoke: "I think you are the only one who can carry this out."

At Bernard's words, Feng looked like he had just swallowed a sea slug. That brought to mind a subaltern of mine who had made the mistake of shacking up with him. She told me that it felt as if she had a slug between the sheets.

The thought made me smile for a second.

"All right," I said, "let's hear it."

Without further niceties or attempt to conversation, I marched in front of Feng to the conference room, Moira bringing up the rear. Once inside, the doors closed shut and we sat down, I found myself taking the spot at the head of the table, facing the doors, Feng on the other side.

Feng played with his pen, wrote something on the top of the notebook in front of him and then, after a deep breath, said: "We received a message from a Wraith hive that has dropped out of hyperspace a day ago above planet MS34435—"

"Inhabited?" I asked.

"Yes," Santos answered in Feng's place. "One of the planets that is part of our alliance with… uh… your Wraith; Beauregard."

I did suppress a laugh. Beauregard? "Is that what you call him?"

"My idea," Doctor Bernard intervened.

"And since when is he MY Wraith?"

"Well…" Santos smiled back at me trying to look innocent. "Isn't he?"

"Oh, yeah… I'm his child bride." I swiveled in my chair. "Beauregard?"

Feng made an impatient noise through his nose. We all turned to him.

"They hailed us using your channel and requested a meeting to discuss terms of an alliance."

"Really?" I leaned back in my chair. "Terms of A alliance or of THE alliance?"

"We didn't get the finer point of that," Santos quipped.

Feng drummed his fingers on the table, apparently unconscious of it.

"In order to get our attention-" Santos continued.

"Naturally…."

"—the hive blocked the two gates—the one on the planet and the one above it—and took hostages the humans in one of the major towns. The humans there are early industrial age phase."

"Any culling?"

"Not that we know of. But, they said that they will cull ten people for every hour we delay accepting the invitation, starting at 0900 hour. Which is an hour from now."

"And they are inviting us exactly where?"

"In a neutral location on the planet."

"And they are requesting you," Feng interjected. "If you are not there, even if we show up at the rendez-vous, they will cull."

I tightened my lips. "Not very subtle…" I stared at the closed doors. "Wraith can be brutally direct, but this is crudely direct."

"It's a trap of some kind," Santos said.

"Too crude to be a trap. The meeting is not the trap in itself." I shifted my gaze on Santos. "It's nothing that is visible to the naked eye, so to speak."

"Do you think it's Beau-… I mean, the Commander's hives?" Feng asked.

"Have you seen any movement other than this?"

"No," Santos answered.

"In the face of it, and if this is all there is, it is too simple to be the Commander," I said.

"He's rather refined in his methods, I must admit," Santos agreed. "This is not his style."

"Something else is hiding behind it," I said and smiled, rather ruefully: "Something more elegant and more deadly, I think." I focused on Feng and put him on the spot: "So, your decision is that we walk into this based on believing what the Wraith tell us? Do we even know who's on the other side?"

"No," Santos rumbled.

Forever the cautious and wavering man, Feng countered: "What do you think is the trap?"

"I cannot fathom," I said. But, I was lying. My suspicion was that 'someone' wanted a piece of my DNA; again. But, that was the obvious. Again, if it was the Commander, he knew enough and the two of us had shared enough for him to know that he would not have to go through such crude subterfuges. "If it's the Commander, I cannot imagine why he would find it necessary to deal with us like this." Even if his purpose was to have me show up. "If it's another faction of Wraiths… They would not know of me, unless someone has betrayed the Commander." In which case… they could want a piece of my DNA.

"Can you hail the Commander to come to your aid?" Feng said.

I stared at him and an alarm went off in my head; or rather I could smell that acrid odor again. "Disappointingly, no."

"It could be a splinter group," Santos chanced.

"I thought you could hail your Wraith," Feng insisted.

I did not like the tone of 'your'. But, I shrugged. "He's a Wraith; which means he's not stupid and certainly does not trust humans enough to give me a way to hail him."

"I thought he trusted you," Feng continued his line of discussion.

"He used me, Doctor Feng, didn't trust me. And I didn't trust him. These are Wraith we're talking about. Never assume anything." I decided to give the little man a crumb so that he would reveal where he was going. "But, it could be," I said with a cogitative tone of voice, "that, although in hibernation, he is keeping an eye on his territories and the status of the alliance—I am sure that in true Wraith fashion he's got something underhanded going on—and that he might receive a signal that someone is encroaching on his empire. There is a chance that he might show up."

Feng seemed pleased. "That is good."

There was more behind this. A lot more.

I stood up. "Anything else? I understand that time is short."

"Yes," Feng mumbled.

I locked my gaze into Feng's eyes before he could avert them: "You don't have any theories, suspicions, hunches?"

Feng's eyes slipped. "No. That's why you're here, Doctor Vries. You're with the suspicions and theories."

Liar. I glanced at Santos. He nodded softly.

"Shall we contact the Wraith and tell them that I am coming?"

Feng stood up quickly. "I will contact them. In the meantime, I suggest you use the time to prepare."

That smell reached my nose again. "I will be speaking with them from now on. No one else. Is that understood?"

Feng seemed to dissolve in stress and incertitude. I was higher in rank by virtue of my position on the IOA, but my high handed manner had thrown him off balance. "Put me through to the Wraith," I said to Bernard.

"Yes!" Doctor Bernard jumped to his feet.

A few minutes later, I stood in the control room, facing the screen filled with static.

"They are responding," the Lieutenant manning the communications said.

"Patch them through," I said. My heart was in my mouth.

The screen cleared and the face of an unknown Wraith appeared. His hair was slick and carefully arranged, two strands of beard adorning his chin.

"I am Doctor Vries," I announced before the Wraith could speak.

"Ah… Doctor Vries. Glad to see you."

"With whom am I supposed to meet?" I asked directly.

The Wraith seemed to appreciate that. He tilted his head. "My Queen."

"Do I know your Queen?"

"That's immaterial, Doctor Vries. Be there at the agreed upon time and we will not cull, or feed upon the hostages."

"You realize that there was no need for the hostages and all the other niceties. You could've just asked."

The Wraith grinned. "It did not appear to be enough at the time. And not everyone is as reasonable as you are, Doctor Vries. We are expecting you."

The screen went blank and 'signal lost' flashed on the screen.

"What did he mean?" I turned to Feng.

"Just Wraith talk," Feng answered. Too hastily.

So, there have been discussions between Feng and the Wraith beyond what he had told me… "I get the feeling that they didn't just take hostages and showed up on our screen."

Feng shrugged.

I turned on my heels and walked out. Colonel Santos came in my wake and caught up with me. Moira brought the rear.

"Let's talk in here," I said and veered through the opening doors leading to the great terrace over looking the ocean.

I took in a deep breath, the smell of the ocean filling my lungs. "I am happy to be here," I said.

Colonel Santos came alongside while Moira remained in the corridor. I couldn't help thinking that she was guarding our privacy. Slowly, she closed the doors.

"What troubles you, Colonel," I started, "besides the obvious."

He clasped his hands behind his back and stared over the turrets of the city. "Let me be brief and to the point."

"I expect nothing less from you, Colonel," I smiled.

"I have the same suspicions you have, Doctor Vries. I think Feng has been talking to the Wraith before they showed up with this 'we'll cull if you don't come and talk to us; and by the way, we will only talk to Doctor Vries.'"

"Are you saying that Feng is hiding a piece of this so called future alliance?"

"I think," Santos said, "that we're not doing this just to save those villagers. We are not that noble. I think Feng is getting something in return."

"Any suspicions?"

He shook his head. "I'm just saying, nothing is what it seems. We need to keep our eyes open."

"Always with the Wraith."

"I don't like this. I want you to know that I will back you up in whatever decision you make."

"I am the Trojan horse?"

"I don't know that. But, that's what I feel in my gut."

"So do I." I squared my shoulders. "Let's see what these Wraiths are all about. And let's keep in mind that we have an alliance with the Commander's hives. It could be all about that." I kept to myself the next thought—and I am the Keeper of the Commander's hive. I will not be the one to destroy it. I said however: "If this hive we're going to talk to today threatens the alliance, we might have to choose sides among the Wraith." I was silent for a while. Then I said: "Colonel, I need you on my side."

"I am on your side."

"I don't want Feng to be able to track us."

Santos nodded. "I understand."

"Can be done?"

"Yes."

As we opened the door to the hallway, we both looked at Moira. "She might know something," he whispered to me.

Inside the room assigned to me for my stay in Atlantis, Moira was unpacking for me and laying out my things on the bed, placing the computer on my desk. I watched her as she reached the Wraith outfit. She paused looking down on it. She was older and looked drawn.

"How have you been, Moira?" I asked.

She straightened up. "I have been well."

"Do you miss the Commander?" The question was really: have you seen him?

She glanced at me. "It is the way things must be."

Was that a yes, or a no?

"He was a kind master when you didn't cross him?"

"He is Wraith. He was just."

"Wraith justice."

"Their justice is predictable if you know their ways."

"Their treachery is a code." Then I asked directly: "Has he communicated with you at all while I was gone?"

There was a prolonged silence. "He is Wraith. It might simply be that neither of us is needed to him anymore."

And that was the heart of the matter. That worm of forlorn despondency and feeling of loss squirmed in my heart and gut. I took a deep breath to rid myself of that sensation. It was illogical, unreasonable and absurd. Absurd seemed to describe a lot of what was going on.

"Do you know anything about the Wraith who asked to see me?" I asked Moira.

"It is someone from the Commander's alliance, I think. A faction that betrayed him." She looked pale. Was it anxiety or was it simply the long fasting from the Commander's gift to the worshiper. I glanced quickly at myself in the mirror across the room. Was I also pale and withdrawn, looking as if fading from some mental form of starvation? But I found my face was glowing and looking content in a way it had not looked through my long stay on Earth. I looked as if I've just been to a spa. "You must go, Doctor Vries. You must." She came a step closer. "This is not what it seems to be. Something is wrong. I fear for the Commander."

I bit my lip in an old gesture of discomfort. I looked carefully at Moira. Very carefully. "What do you know of Feng's dealings with the Wraith who want to talk to me?"

She answered me readily enough, in a very soft voice: "He has promises from these Wraith."

"How do you know?"

"I know."

I nodded and didn't press that particular point. "Do you now what?"

"No. But I do wonder." She gazed squarely at me. "You think like a Wraith; and you think like a human. You know what the Wraith would want; and you know what someone like Feng would want for his glory. There is a desire there that is common to Feng and these Wraith." She took a step towards me. "Think."

I paced the room. Time was running out; I only had minutes before we would be ready to leave. The Wraith would desire many things, but mainly domination and acquisition of feeding grounds; humans wanted to eliminated the Wraith as a power in Pegasus; weaken them and eventually, short of turning them in some kind of grass eating eunuchs, eliminate them; Feng in the particular, who was a very ambitious little man, wanted the be the one to do it. The Commander's alliance was the most powerful of all the Wraith factions; it dominated and it had acquired most of the human feeding grounds; held in waiting for them by Atlantis. Not a very comfortable arrangement. The common thread; the common desire… I took in a deep breath.

"The destruction of the Commander's hives," I said softly.

Moira nodded.

"These Wraith want the destruction of the Commander's hives and freeing of his feeding grounds; also they want to destruction of one of his greatest assets—me."

Moira was very still.

"Feng would agree with it, including delivering me to the Wraith…" I almost gasped in surprise at the thought that occurred to me: "He fully expects the Commander to come to my rescue, to save his great asset, and thus reveal himself and the locations of his hives."

Moira's gaze was downcast now. But, the look on her face was one of agreement; almost triumph.

I continued. "Failing that, perhaps the Wraith will tell Feng the location of the hives. Feng will attack them while they're still hibernating."

"He has a weapon he's been experimenting with. A disruptor that attacks Wraith DNA." She looked up at me. "I've seen it. He's been working at it secretly. Not even Doctor Bernard knows. It works slowly, so it has to be in a hibernating hive."

I let out my breath. "And after that, it would be easy to destroy the smaller Wraith factions. They would be of lesser threat."

Moira looked up at me, her eyes sparkling. I wasn't sure why. She said: "But, you know the Wraith, Doctor Vries."

"They will not play the game they led Feng to believe they would play. They've got their own deadly game. They don't play games with humans as part of their team. They are using Feng."

"Yes."

"And me?"

"I don't know." She shivered a little. "Take the tablet the Commander has given you. Hold on to it for dear life."

"The simplest way to break up the game, is to refuse to go," I said.

Moira looked at me horrified. "No," she almost cried out. "No. Perhaps the commander needs you. And then there are all those humans the Wraith will kill. There is no way of knowing how this will turn out."

I smiled. "I wasn't seriously suggesting it. Oddly, I have no fear of it."

"Of course not." She bowed to me. "I ask permission to go off Atlantis to the village on the shore."

I wanted to ask why, but I let it go. She would tell me, if I needed to know.

"You have my permission." And I hope you contact the right person.

She bowed again and slipped out of the room.

I stared at the closed door. After a while I turned to the terrace and looked out over the ocean. I bent my mind into the Commander's name. As soon as I did that, it bloomed in my brain and spread out with tendrils of light and color. He was not gone. Not gone at all. Now I knew why I accepted the mission without hesitation and agreed to go along. Somehow, I had lost the concept of fear; somehow, all that moved me was the prospect of encountering the Wraith; and a driving force that I preferred to call loyalty. The strangeness of that only troubled me somewhere at the peripheries of my consciousness.

I picked up the amber tablet and held it in my right hand. I remained dark. I stared down on it.

Before I left Atlantis, I had been able to see the location of a hive, very far away, beyond the reach of any of our ships. But, now, the tablet was mute. I felt cold. Something was terribly wrong.

I was needed.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

After I boarded the Horizon—a new battle cruiser attached to Atlantis under Colonel Santos' command—and it looped around the Atlantis planet and then towards a in space gate, I asked Santos if he could render Atlantis 'silent' in space for a couple of minutes.

Santos did not ask why but touched a few icons on the screen and nodded in my direction. I quickly went to the bay outside the control room and took the amber pad out of my pocket. I cradled it in my right hand. I waited, my heart beating, but it stayed dark. In a gesture of anxiety, I put my other hand over it, to feel its neutral warmth.

I almost leaped back as the amber turned hot and lit up, the glow penetrating through my hand, the outline of my bones visible. I took my hand off and looked down on it.

It showed the location of our destination and the gates. Near the gate was a hive ship. There were two more behind the planet, where they would not be visible or easy to detect.

I felt a lurch and the high pitched sound that accompanied a jump into hyperspace.

I ran into the command room.

"Why did you jump into hyperspace?" I asked as I saw the Colonel and his second in command stare at their screens, while a third officer was punching the keyboard. Murderous suspicion bloomed in my mind. "You are in with Feng in this!" Oh, I wish I had my weapon.

Santos looked up startled. "No!" he cried out. "I didn't order any jump!"

It was then that I noticed the agitation in the command room—there was a general, low buzz and everyone seemed to be flipping switches and running diagnostics.

"It's not a malfunction," the Colonel's aid, a Major, called from his station at the Colonel's right.

I took in a breath as I felt the piece of amber in my palm turn cold. "Sorry, Santos…"

"Quite understandable."

"Where are we going?"

Santos looked to the Major, who shook his head. "We won't know until we come out."

"Find the damn problem before we come out of hyperspace in a circle of hive ships!" Santos barked.

Quite unnecessarily, I decided. The men behind him were working feverishly at the controls.

"We can't override it, Colonel."

What are you doing? The question sprung in my mind from nowhere. I slowed down my breath. Who was I talking to?

As if I didn't know…

"We're dropping out of hyperspace!" the second in command called out.

"Where?"

The ship glided out of hyperspace. A red planet surrounded by an orange halo of gases filled the observations windows of the control room.

"Major?" the Colonel said, staring at the planet.

"We're midpoint to our rendez vous," he said looking at his screens. "Slightly off course, but not much. This planet does not have a gate."

"Not populated?"

"Empty, according to our scans. Also, it does not native life."

The Colonel moved sharply in his chair, his eyes on the panoramic view in front of him of the planet. "We've got company," he said quietly.

A hush fell in the control room, the clicking of a computer keyboard the only sound. The Colonel rose from his chair and we both walked to the window. There, between the planet and the Horizon, first just a small speck glinting in the light of a far away sun, then becoming bigger as it glided forward, was a hive ship. It glowed like old gold as the light of the planet and the sun bounced off it. There was something very silent about it and feral.

"I never thought I'd say that about a hive ship," the Colonel said, "but it's kind of beautiful."

"Looks like a great, deadly golden scarab," I mused, looking at it.

"Don't you find it interesting," the Colonel echoed my unvoiced musings, "that we went into a wild hyperspace jump and came out just here, exactly where this hiveship is?"

"It's waiting for us?"

"Colonel," the Major said. "I found the source of the jump. A viral program patched into our system. It self destructed just as I pulled it up."

"How?" the Colonel swerved around and reached the Major's station in two bounds.

I turned slowly on my axis, facing the sudden agitation in the command room.

"I don't know," the Major answered, his fingers flying over the keyboard and the controls. "It wasn't there before. It just penetrated the systems, locked us out, initiated the hyperspace jump and then…" He put his hands up in the air. "Gone."

I froze, my hand on the tablet in my pocket.

"Please don't tell me," the Colonel rumbled, "that Wraith hacked into our computer out of nowhere and kicked us through hyperspace!" He turned to face the windows. "Is it hailing us?"

"No. It's absolutely silent."

I felt a vibration in my hand. The piece of amber was now warm. I took it out of the pocket. It pulsated with blue and orange lights, back and forth. Oh, crap, no! I looked at the hiveship floating like a lethal wasp between us and the planet. A blue and orange light flashed in our direction, cutting through black space.

"It's hailing us," I said, quietly and raised my hand with the amber tablet. The ship and the tablet synchronized. "Or it's about to blow us up." The Colonel came back to me and looked at the object in my hand and then at the ship. "Anything, Lieutenant?" he asked over his shoulder the communication officer.

"Nothing. All our systems are fine. No energy surge."

"I think," I said showing the small square of amber to the Colonel, "this is how we ended up here."

"What is it? Wraith?" he asked, looking down on it with increased curiosity.

"Yes. The Commander gave it to me before he left Atlantis." I didn't say that I had found it in my pocket. I would've had to explain how it got there without me knowing it. I couldn't very well tell Santos that I was in Wraith LaLaLand at the time.

"Son of a bitch…"

"I don't think this hive means us harm," I said. "Anyway, not immediate harm. It could've blasted us out of the sky when we came out of hyperspace. The hiveship is just sitting there."

"Did he tell you what this was for?" Santos asked, still drawn to the tablet in my hand.

"No. I thought it was just a gift… until it started to glow on me." Not a lie. Not entirely the truth. But, it was now in the open.

The Colonel let out his breath. "I would say it was a bit foolish to carry it around." He made a face. "Or perhaps, it was not. Depends. The Wraith are not the most predictable of creatures. Unfortunately, I have to admit they are also the brightest bulb in the house. A very deadly combination." He looked at the hiveship. "What do you suggest, Doctor Vries?"

"It's hailing us in some sort of way. I think we should go and look."

The Colonel was silent for a second. "Damn risky. But, I'll trust you on this." He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his finger. "I'm also kind of curious." He glanced at me sideway. "Do you suppose it's the Commander?"

"I don't know." The truth, again. But, that truth hid my knowledge of Feng's plan; and also my conviction that this was the beginning of the game change Moira and I had predicted. I had no doubt that as of this point, the Wraith had discarded Feng's hopes.

Also, I could not discount the fact that Santos, or one of his men, would carry Feng's disruptor device.

"I think it's best," I said, "if I go alone."

"Damn dangerous," Santos grumbled.

"It will have to be that way." Somehow, this has become the Commander's game. I did not fear that.

###

The puddle jumper—looking to my eye like an ugly housefly buzzing around the beauty of the hiveship—circled over and under the ship, finishing its slow spiral underneath the hive. It hovered for a few moments around the hyperdrive ports. There was no damage in that area, or in any other parts.

"All quiet," I communicated to the Horizon.

"All quiet here," the Colonel answered. "Of course, we can't tell what's inside the ship, other than no powered weapons and no engine activity."

"Could they be in hibernation?"

"Out in the open like that?"

I made a face. "We were brought here…" And I am supposed to be some kind of a keeper… according to Moira.

I opened several screens to give me a reading of the hiveship. "No welcome mat," I said. "But—" I hovered in front of an opened bay door. A dark, blue light glowed inside. "Someone left the back door opened and the porch light on."

"Are you going in?"

"We've come this far." Inside me was the very tiny, timorous hope that the Commander was there. It didn't mean it was not dangerous; it didn't mean that it was not a trick; it meant a lot of things. Because it meant a lot of possibilities, I had to go in.

"I think we can keep communications open," Santos said.

I eased the puddle jumper into the bay, a long and narrow space, its walls a mosaic of blue reflections and darkness.

"No one here," I communicated, after scanning around. I looked at the pattern of the ceiling—rhomboids filled with a liquid, blue light, glowing cones falling in front of the jumper, receding into the far depth of the enclosure.

"It's open to space," I said. "I need to put on my suit—"

A loud hiss and a hollow sound of moving plates made me turn. The bay doors were closing and the chamber was pressurizing.

"I guess they have some kind of detection device. Colonel, do you receive me?"

There was no answer.

"Colonel?"

Silence. Then: "Vries!"

I felt my heart settle. "Thank God. Colonel. I thought we lost contact."

"Just temporarily. Good sign that we are not blocked or that there are any shields in place."

"Pretty defenseless," I mused.

"Could blow it out of the sky any moment."

"You'll warn me first, right?"

The Colonel chuckled.

"I am getting out of the jumper. The chamber is pressurized and safe to breath."

"Be careful out there."

"Yeah… don't let the bugs bite," I joked.

The back ramp of the jumper opened with a thin sound, loud inside the silence. It was then, perhaps for the first time, that I noticed there was no echo inside hive ships.

I descended from the jumper and took a few steps, the sound of my footfalls muffled. The silence was absolute, wrapping itself around me like a shroud. I clasped my gun and took the path of the circles of light leading to what had to be the entrance to the hive. As I approached, an entrance formed, like an opening iris, to reveal another corridor submerged in that lightless blue glow. The same silence and stillness greeted me. There was a strange beauty around me, an intricate latticework of dark and glowing plates and glistening amber. The air was scented; a clean scent. I wondered if ships had names—certainly the ship Wraiths did; and I wondered if it was, like in the case of the male Wraith, made up of colors and scents.

This ship was not dead. Its surfaces were smooth and gleaming, the amber shiny, the liquid light moving smoothly behind the walls. Nor was it dying. It did not have that smell of rotting vegetation, of earth decaying. For some reason, I knew that was how a dying hive ship would smell. And perhaps even worse than that.

The Commander's hive ship had a smell—something faintly cardamom. Not unpleasant, but there. This hive ship had no scent I could discern. Perhaps, I was not allowed to; lest I know the name of the ship.

With these thoughts whirling in my mind, I emerged into a large, domed chamber, the ceiling high above. The walls were a lattice of dark rhomboids, precisely laid out. A shaft of blue light fell from above, spreading out and splitting into countless patches of light on the floor. Ahead of me was a rising ramp and steps that ended on a dais, lit from behind by several panels of low light. The glow outlined a large, oval object.

A throne. A Queen's throne.

"Colonel," I whispered into the com.

"I hear you."

"I think I've stumbled unto the Queen's throne room… Very large. And very strange. Like nothing we've ever seen. It's domed, like some… some… Pantheon."

"Any Queen on the throne?" the Colonel quipped back.

"I don't think so. I'll go closer."

"Don't sit on it."

"No kidding…"

I touched the tablet in my pocket and pulled it out. I very soft gold glow shimmered in its middle. "Where are you, you SOB?"

"Talking to me?" the Colonel's voice piped in.

I made a noise in the com. Then I said: "The Wraith tablet is glowing a bit."

"I don't like that… But, it proves that is connected with the hiveship."

I stopped. My palm suddenly felt warm. That was not something I was going to convey to Santos. "It's a Wraith object; that makes it tricky and—"

I swerved around. I wasn't sure what made me do that, except perhaps the sudden needle like jab in my palm. For a moment, as I turned, I had the illusion of seeing the form of a Wraith in the distance—tall, with white hair, a gold gleam bouncing off him. The Commander—

But, there was nothing there. Just a feeling.

I turned back to face the throne and could not quite keep back a gasp. My hand flew to my weapon.

"There is no need for that , Doctor Vries," the Wraith Queen standing behind four male Wraith spoke to me.

The Wraiths stepped aside and she advanced towards me. She was tall, massive in her gleaming gold outfit of metal and leather. Her bodice was like an amber carapace. Her face was pale and free of tattoos. The hair was pulled back, sleek and red. She grinned at me with tiny, sharp teeth. "We finally meet, Doctor Vries."

"Did you bring me here?"

"You came." She made a gesture with her hand. "Let us sit."

"Doctor Vries?" Santos voice hummed in my ear.

"There is a Queen," I whispered. "She wants me to _sit_."

I followed the Queen to her throne. She smoothly sat down and motioned to the bench next to it.

I sat down.

Suddenly, the chamber lit up, the rhomboids gleaming with gold light.

"Ah…" the Queen hummed, sounding as if she had made a discovery. She turned her gaze on me and examined me carefully. She looked like a young preying mantis, her face triangular, the mouth very small, the lips constricted. For a moment, I thought I had glimpsed a resemblance with Amanda. Her eyes were very green. And, for an idle moment, I wondered if we were related.

The Queen's peculiar green eyes, more like a serpent's than any other Wraith I've seen, were on me. She moved her head to the right, and to the left, to and fro, as if she was scanning; either with her eyes, or her hearing, or her mind. Whatever she was doing, my mind was free of any interference.

"Ah…" she hummed again. "You are a very interesting human," she said. "The first interesting human I've ever met; or heard about."

A thought was beginning to filter through my mind as I watched her. She was fascinated with me. I was still a human, but one that somehow had risen, in her eyes, to the level of being 'interesting'. Amanda had said that I had received a gift only a Queen was given. I was not quite sure what that had been, in spite of the vaporous explanations I had received from the Commander, but perhaps it was time to play that card. Also, this Wraith could be one that has my DNA.

"What is it that you want to discuss with me?" I said, acquiring a haughty tone.

She peered at me and hummed. I had not heard Amanda hum; and certainly the Commander did not do that. "I am just indulging my curiosity about you." Her voice trailed in a most unpleasant way. She leaned forward. "We are not brutes, We appreciate the finer human specimens."

Like cheeses or truffles… And Queens only 'sit' with other Queens… "Au contraire," I said, for whatever reason using my limited French, which earned a tilt of her head, "it is I who is indulging you. I am not usually inclined to 'sit' with a lower rank Queen. Which you are, since you have my DNA."

She didn't lash out at me or even do her hum. She leaned back in her throne and examined me.

"He has taught you well," she said.

He? My heart skipped. But, I said nothing.

She stood up suddenly. "Enough!" she called out.

I felt a sting in the middle of my palm.

"Vries!" Santos' voice called, urgency in his voice. "They're—"

A thin hum covered his voice. And then there was silence.

I let out my breath. We had entered hyperspace.

My, or anyone else's natural reaction would have been to cry out: "Where are you taking me?" and protest, demand, throw a temper tantrum; and act like a wuss. But, that would've been not just counterproductive, but premature and would have revealed no stomach for Wraith games. The game had only started. When a Wraith doesn't feed on you but instead takes you into hyperspace, it means that there's more to come. Above all, at some other level, I was getting curious. Someone had gone through a lot of trouble to get me here. And I was sure that if I had gone accompanied by a contingency of marines, they would've been dead by now on the hive floor; or ejected in space.

I fought my urge to ask what the hell was going on and leaned back in my mini throne and said appreciatively: "Very smooth hyperdrive you've got on this ship. A new model?"

The Queen blinked at me. I looked about me and at the ceiling. "The design of this ship is different than what I've seen on other hive ships. Very elegant."

The queen was silent. Perhaps she thought I was mad. I decided to suppress all emotions, to cover them; I wondered if like me, she could smell my emotions. Breath in, breath out… think of… lavender. Lavender… Fields of purple lavender.

The Queen's nostrils quivered a bit and the slits on either side of her nose seemed to widen. That was a bit digusting… But, I was certain she was smelling lavender. I wondered what that smell meant to the Wraith.

"What is the function of all those rhomboids?" I asked idly, switching my mind to fields of iris. Big purple iris with yellow fuzz on their petals, huge bumble, black bumble bees entering them.

"Those are hibernation chambers," the Queen said slowly.

"Oh…" I scanned the walls and the ceiling. "Occupied?"

"Yes."

"Ah…" That explained the quiet and the usual hustle and bustle of a Wraith hive. A hope rose in my heart; a hope and dread at the same time. Were we going to the hibernating hub of the Commander's alliance? Was she one of his Queens; one of the Queens he had created as part of his coalition of queens under his command. I wondered if she had a feeding hand.

I glanced at her. She was kind of… amber; a color I associated with the Commander. Perhaps she was of his gene pool. I could not tell if she had any of me; unless you would consider her green eyes a combination of the Commander's yellow and my blue. Or, perhaps, the Commander had stolen some of my 'special' gene and modified his own DNA with it; and sewed his oats, so to speak. But, that would mean his death. Unless… well, he was clever enough to avoid that. None of this was a question I would ask; directly, that is.

"Are you part of the—" and I called the Commander's Wraith name in my mind; so easy this time. The Queen's eyes widened and her head jerked. I knew at that moment that I had made a mistake. "—alliance of hives?"

She hissed back at me and her head moved right and left on its neck in something of a cobra-like gesture. "No." Her voice had the sound of a cicada. "You know his Wraith name…" Her voice continued to make that rasping, sharp insect noise. "This must end… NOW!"

I leaned back. "Calm down, your majesty," I said.

She hissed back. "How dare you, human garbage, set yourself up as my rival? You would die NOW if I didn't have better plans for you." Hisssssssssssss… Crackle….. Rasp. She grinned. "Your Commander has better plans for you. He serves me now. Faithfully." She let out a sound that, I suppose, could double as a laugh. Her hand lashed out at me and hit me over the side of the head so swiftly and so hard that I flew off my seat and tumbled down the steps. I felt a warm liquid spurt down my neck. I touched my face as I tried to turn on the floor. Her fingers sheaths had cut through my skin. She was now standing. "When this is done, I will take my fill of him for telling you his Wraith name. Then, he can recover by feeding on you."

"I guess I don't get any filial piety from you," I quipped at her as I tried to stand up.

She glared at me.

Somehow, all the threats sounded over the top to me; even for a Wraith. Unless this was, indeed a very young Wraith. But, the other implications were there; a maelstrom of them. I could not even begin to sort through them. What I knew was that I would not die; not today.

As for the Commander? He was alive? Was he on board? A small flutter of hope alighted in my mind. Then it was shadowed and snuffed out by the idea that he had baited me and then betrayed me for his own interests. Betrayed? No, not betray. He was a Wraith, I was a human. There was no trust, alliance, friendship or love between us; hence, no betrayal.

"I would like to speak to the Commander," I said. Not sure why I said that; perhaps it was the only thing I could say at that point to keep the conversation going and find out more.

"You will speak to him—" The word 'speak' had been pronounced with quite a glee, "—when I will give you to him to feed on you. In front of me." She leaned over me. "I'd love to watch that. Getting his pleasure with a human instead of his Queen." She cackled.

"Is he imprisoned?" I asked, absurdly, I knew. And perhaps it was a mistake to inquire so much about him. But, I hoped to find out more.

"Imprisoned? No. Just under my command. He knows the consequences of failure. And the rewards of success for his Queen and new hive."

New hive… I see. I glanced around. What was it so different about this place? I felt it somewhere inside what I call my instinctive gut that this was not an ordinary hive, even if it was a new hive. It was not a regular hibernation hive either. Why would a new hive be in hibernation. New hive; did she mean a new hive ship; or a new hive community? Then a thought occurred to me. New hive… Young Queen. Oh, yesssss…"You are a new Queen; you have just—uh, swarmed from an old hive system."

She regarded me carefully. "You are intelligent…" she mused. She spread out her arms. "Yes, I am a new Queen. A powerful Queen already. This is my ship. My first ship. More will come. And they—" she waved her arms in a great circle, "are the Wraith I created. Hundreds of them—the most powerful and perfect warriors in the galaxy; and male Wraiths—the most intelligent and capable Wraiths in the Pegasus." She grinned. "And they need feeding. Soon." Hissssss…

"I'm too puny for all of them," I cracked a joke.

"Indeed. But, you underestimate yourself." She stared over my head for a few seconds. I knew that she was summoning someone. I've seen that look in the Commander's eyes. "Sit."

Again?

"You must need drink and food."

I went back to my seat and sat down. From the corner of my eye I saw a movement in the far corner and turned my head sharply. Before I even set eyes on whoever had appeared in the chamber at the Queen's summon, I knew it was not the Commander. I expected to be a worshiper.

However, I did not expect it to be Moira.

I restrained my reaction as she walked up to me, her head bowed, her eyes avoiding mine. She offered me the tray she held—a cup of some liquid and a strange looking fruit; the same kind she had given me on that first day on the Commander's ship. Coincidence? I picked up the cup and then the fruit, twisting it in my hand. "Is this the only fruit that exists in the Pegasus?" I asked, putting on a petulant look.

"No," Moira said softly. "I am told you like this one."

I didn't look at her. If this was a message, I did not want to give it away. It was a message. From the Commander? I let out my breath. Don't be a fool. This is treachery wrapped in treachery and tied up with a string of Wraith cunning. "You were told wrong." I tossed the fruit back on the tray.

The Queen hissed and Moira skittered away.

I would not ask how Moira had gotten there. Probably this had been the reason for her request to leave Atlantis. But it did not matter. It only proved that she had been in contact with the Commander and that she had been his spy all along; and only a fool would've thought otherwise. Or may be she had not been in contact with the Commander afterall; but another Wraith.

But, it was the Queen who brought up the subject. "My first worshiper," she susurated. "She came to me. I attract."

Oh, yes, you do indeed. Question is—what exactly to do you attract. I took a sip of the drink.

Her hand flew at me and grabbed my chest. I felt her nails bite into my flesh and then a searing pain as if a red hot blade was slicing my chest. I had never imagined such pain as I desperately tried to stifle the scream that gurgled from my startled core. A smothering black veil fell over me. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness—or perhaps I died—was a fluttering, golden moth spiraling in the deep dark. I reached for it, but grasped only blackness.

I woke up in a chamber enclosed by the intricate open lattice typical of hive walls. I was stretched out on a rather soft bench, surrounded by deep, amber darkness. Patches of low, gold light glowed in the ceiling above. My right hand was touching the wall, a feel of carved amber imprinted on my palm. I withdrew my hand startled.

I was not dead. I looked at my hands—they looked smooth and young. I touched my face—it was smooth; no wrinkles. If I had been fed upon, somehow I was restored. The memory of the horrible pain lingered like a nauseating throb. I recalled the time the Commander had touched me with his feeding hand, grasping my chest with it. There had been no pain; just a soft touch. The worshipper he had fed on had not shown any evidence of pain; unless he had been drugged.

But, everyone had always said that the act of feeding inflicts great pain. I had just experienced it.

Something moved in the corner of my eye. I turned my head.

Moira was standing a few feet away from me, watching me. I raised myself on one elbow. I wasn't sure how to treat her—foe or friend; betrayer or loyal servant. There was nothing obvious showing on her face. "Was I fed upon?"

She let out her breath. "No. But the pain was terrible." She looked at me. "The Wraith control the pain. She was not merely careless, she wanted to inflict great pain."

I touched my chest. There was still a bleeding scar.

"It will go away," she said, and there was disdain in her voice.

"What are you doing here?"

She shook her head at me, but then she seemed to flinch just as a dark shadow appeared in the recesses of the chamber outside mine. Moira threw her head back. "Do you think that I enjoyed or wanted to serve you, I, a servant of the Wraith, a race superior to you in all ways? I obeyed my master's command and now he has rewarded me; and brought me back home."

The shadow moved away. Moira's shoulders relaxed. A sad look crossed her face and she shook her head mournfully. She turned away and walked out, the door parting for her and then closing behind her.

The shadow reappeared again and moved towards my chamber. It was a woman, very thin and walking a bit crooked. She stopped behind the lattice and I saw two dark eyes examine me. "You won't escape this time," she said. "Not this time. The Commander is done with you. He won't even feed upon you."

Suddenly, I knew that voice, although I could not at first recognize the old and devastated face and figure. Doria.

"I thought you were dead," I snapped at her.

"The Commander would not let a faithful worshipper like me die."

"Pity," I quipped. And he didn't do a very good job of restoring you either.

"Wag your tongue while you still can," she hissed at me.

I turned away from her. For the first time, dread entered my heart. And despair. I felt tears in my eyes. It served me right to think a Wraith to be anything else but a ruthless, cunning and manipulating creature. My very heart hurt with disappointment and deep hurt. And self loathing.

A thin noise, like the song of a mosquito broke the silence around me. A lurch in my gut told me that we've come out of hyperspace. The thin sound grew louder and sounded like an alarm. Then, it stopped.

With the silencing of the alarm, Doria ran off, looking driven. A few moments later, Moira reappeared.

"We have arrived," she said, quietly.

"Where?" I asked, swallowing all the bile that had built in the back of my throat.

She shook her head.

Before I could ask anything more, a Wraith accompanied by two masked warriors marched in.

"You come with us," the Wraith said, his voice strangely neutral.

I walked behind him, the two faceless Wraith behind me. I could sense Moira following at a distance. We entered a long chamber, the walls vaulting overhead, columns of flowing amber light leading to what I realized was the Queen's private seat in the hive. She was seated on her throne, her hands planted on the arms. It glowed around her. It was from this place that she really commanded the hive, I noted, the mental wheels of the detached scientist turning.

"Ah," she made a noise, "finally, we are at our destination. You will be happy to know that you will be part of a powerful alliance between two queens against Atlantis. We will dominate the galaxy."

"Where are we?"

The Queen was silent for a bit, perhaps considering whether she should bother to answer me. "Where your Atlantis would not find us."

"Was this the plan all along?"

She tilted her head. "Of course not."

Of course not. That's what I thought. I wondered, though, how much of this was the ruse of the other Queen, and how much had been changed by the plots of this Queen, in front of me.

I stepped around the Wraith leading me. "Is this charade so that you could insert yourself into the alliance?"

She regarded me from above. But, to my surprise, she answered again. "Perhaps." She tilted her head in what I knew to be a sign of amused satisfaction. "The Wraith, the one you think of as a gold moth, is very clever."

The Commander. I let out my breath. As I suspected down deep in my gut, he was behind this. The unshakeable feeling that I was once again a pawn in his grand plans hit me like a wet towel in the face. I swallowed my words of defiance and turned to a sullen silence. Let events roll; and we'll see. I steadied my anger.

Golda jerked her head up. "Welcome to my ship," she pronounced.

I turned around, my heart beating against my will. I searched the faces of the three Wraiths leading the group coming in. They were tall, white haired and pale, like all the Wraith. But, none of them was the Commander. They stepped aside with a short bow of the head, and their Queen came into the amber light. First I saw a shimmer of blue and red silks, something spun from a very precious silk worm, I had no doubt. The long train slithered behind her and the belt that cinched her middle gleamed. My gaze rose to her low cut red bodice and then up to her blue, slitted stare.

Amanda.

My breath stopped.

Her gaze slithered over me, her face expressionless. She jerked her head and the Wraith escorting her backed away and stood against the wall, their head bowed. At the far entrance lurked two other Wraiths. The blue eyed male Wraiths.

Golda stood up and walked down from her throne.

I looked at the two Queens facing one another. One blue eyed in red and blue; the other green eyed and all gold. Amanda and… and… Golda. In spite of the situation I allowed myself an amused smile. Golda, meet Amanda. Amanda, this is Golda.

"Well," I spoke up in an impish desire to interrupt the royal progress of these two cocktails of my DNA and Wraith, "enchanted to see my two daughters together, at last."

They both threw me a supremely royal gaze. The newly named Golda made a jerking wave with her hand in my direction. "My gift to you, as you wished." She looked disgusted. "Why you would want this…"

"It is necessary." Amanda walked passed me, the hem of her train touching me briefly. She met Golda halfway to the throne and said, addressing herself to the green eyed Queen: "I could've had this gift anyway," she said. "It was all arranged until you and your treacherous Wraith snatched it."

Are we talking about the Commander again? God, on whose side is he? In spite of my situation, I was getting very curious and intrigued.

"I think the alliance will be stronger for it," the green eyed Golda answered.

"Indeed."

I stepped forward and faced Amanda. "Are you the Wraith who asked for a meeting with Atlantis and for me?"

"Yes," she answered. Her gaze passed over me like the tips of antennae.

"It was my understanding that the subject was new alliance terms."

She was silent for a second, tilting her head to the side, looking at me. "What I wanted then, I no longer need." She purred.

"Am I to assume that this is not turning into what Atlantis had been led to believe?"

"Very perceptive of you."

"I should so inform Atlantis." I hoped for the chance of communicating with them. A lame excuse…

"Atlantis is of no consequence; and I don't believe you are of much use to them either at this point."

I chanced another question, presenting it as a fact: "You had an understanding with the leader of Atlantis, Feng. You are not going to honor it?"

She grinned. "The human who leads Atlantis?"

"Yes."

I decided to wrong foot her with a brazen assumption. "You were going to give him the location of the Commander's hibernating hives in return for my presence."

I saw Golda flinch and her lips part in a silent hiss.

Amanda didn't even blink. "He is a fool. We don't betray Wraith to humans. It was just a bait. But it is now irrelevant." She grinned at Golda.

"Let us sit," Golda said. Then she added: "Send out your Wraith. We don't need them."

"And fall in the hands of my betrayer?"

Okay… I mused. If she's talking about the Commander, this is getting complicated. Naturally.

"He will not betray us anymore," Golda grinned.

Amanda threw me a blue glance. "I believe you are correct." She swerved around as if to face me but as she turned, I saw a flash of metal in her hands and as she made full circle, she raised what now I saw to be a long, curved sword with a toothed tip. With one sweeping move she sliced sideways with it.

For a moment suspended in time, Golda stared back with her green eyes, the slits widening in mute surprise. Then, the head tipped over, at first slowly until its center of gravity shifted over the space below it. It detached itself from the neck and tumbled to the ground, rolling down the steps. Amanda jumped out of the way of the squirting blood as the headless body, after a moment's pause, fell over.

Amanda reached the throne in one bound as the alarm went off in the hive. She sat down, placed her hands on the arms and called out: "This is my hive and I now command it!"

Silence fell, the alarms cut off in mid shriek.

The two blue eyed Wraiths—what I laughingly called my grandsons—stepped forward and bowed sharply.

"Destroy this thing's" she pointed at the body below the steps, "creatures. All of them."

"Even the warriors?" one of the Wraith asked.

"All. I don't need her poison among us."

"You've got some of it in your own blood," I said, suddenly.

"You…" she hissed. "You will be silent from now on." She looked away from me. "Take us into hyperspace!"

The ship hummed and I felt the shift into hyperspace.

I saw a look of great triumph on Amanda's face. And there was triumph in her voice as she spoke to me in spite of her command that I keep silent. She felt the need to crow. "All this," she spread out her arms, "is my Commander's amendment for his treachery." She leaned forward. "He thought he could start a new faction with the new Queen he had created. A better Queen than me, he thought."

With a feeding hand…

She must've read my thoughts because she raised her right hand. "I changed that." She had a feeding slit. "But," she continued, "he thought better of it after a while, as I hunted down this miserable hive." She purred with triumph. "He delivered the Queen to me and then you, on this hive ship, away from all the power of Atlantis."

I felt a big, empty hole inside me.

"Bring him!" she called out. She rose from her throne, came down the steps and walked up to me. She purred over me. "To show his loyalty to me, I will command him to feed on you." She grinned. "You've become his pet human. I don't like pets. Especially human ones."

"I am sure you prefer a tarantula for a pet."

The sounds of shrill alarms started again, far inside the hive.

She swerved around and seemed to listen.

Then a deep silence fell, like a pall of void.

Amanda smiled. "All this ship's spawns are dead."

My heart was racing, cold and sickening in my chest.

"My Queen," a Wraith voice sounded behind me.

"I want to speak to the Commander." She started to pace.

"Yes, my Queen."

"Remove this body and clean the place. And take this human away," she snarled in my direction. Her train swerved around like a whip. "He might weaken if he sees his pet first thing."

The cell to which they took me, was no more than an enclosure of open lattice walls in the middle of a large chamber filled with a forest of twisted columns of amber vines and veins filled with a pulsing blue glow. At the edges of the chamber, nooks and crannies dissolved into darkness. As one of the walls slid shut to complete the imprisonment in that fish bowl and the Wraith who had brought me here receded among the columns, I felt completely drained, no more than an empty vessel. Suddenly, I lost all my will. There was no escape; there was nowhere to go. There was no one to rescue me. The Commander was just another treacherous and tricky Wraith.

All feelings were replaced with nothing but bitter regret and sorrow; regret for the illusion and sorrow for what had never been.

I put my hand in my pocket and took out the piece of amber. I looked down on it—it was cold and dark. "Damn you!" I hissed and flung it out of my cell. It hit one of the glowing veins of amber on the nearest column and slid down noiselessly. I turned away and started to cry noiselessly and deeply; I cried in mourning.

Something touched my back and I swerved around.

One of the walls of my cell was open and Moira stood just behind the threshold, holding the amber tablet I had flung away. I clenched my fists.

She looked me straight in the face. "Weak, aren't you?" She suddenly looked angry. "Just like any of them. If you let the Queen see you weak, all is wasted. Wasted on you and because of you!"

What happened next was so fast that even I was surprised at the result—driven by an explosion of anger, I leaped forward, and before she could command the wall to close between us, I reached her and with my right hand I slapped the hand holding the tablet. The tablet flew away, skidding on the floor to the base of a column. My left hand flew at her and grabbed her by the neck. My right hand slammed into her chest and a hot needle pierced my palm sending heat and a feeling of rising euphoria through my body.

Moira's eyes opened wide in shock and she screamed.

From the corner of my eye I saw Doria skittering among the columns. Quickly—so quickly that I almost missed it—she picked up the tablet.

"Don't!" Moira stammered, the words barely coming out of her mouth. "Don't… Please… You don't understand. I am not your enemy—"

I pushed her against a column and dug my fingers in her flesh.

A hiss behind me made me turn. Amanda was coming at me, her eyes blazing with a blue gleam. An angry hornet indeed. She covered the distance to Moira and me unnaturally fast, like a leaping locust. Her hand pushed me back with such force that I hit the column with bone crushing violence. At the same time she grabbed Moira and slammed her against another column. "You…" she hissed. "You think to betray me?"

I tried to find my equilibrium; both physical and mental. With a sickening feeling I began to realize that Moira was there for me. Too late now… Another layer of despair and dread came over me.

It was Doria who leaped to Moira's defense. "My Queen," she fell on her knees.

The Queen stopped for a moment to look down on the prostrated figure.

"My Queen," Doria called again. "Moira is innocent. She was serving you. This human was attempting to… to… feed on her."

You idiot! I almost screamed at her.

Fortunately, Amanda seemed to think Doria's statement to be as absurd as it sounded to me. She cracked a laugh at Doria. She slammed her hand on Moira's chest and let out a howl, her mouth agape and her eyes almost rolled back in her head. Moira screamed and shuddered, turning into an old woman and then into a mummy, and then into a dried up husk stretched out on a desiccated skeleton.

I was too horrified to even react. I was frozen in my spot. I looked down on Doria, who was cowering on the floor. I noticed that the tablet had disappeared somewhere in the folds of her garment.

As Moira's body crumbled to the floor, Amanda turned her attention on me. She moved her head sideways and took out a wand like object from a holster at her side and pointed it at me. She grinned and fired a red and blue bolt of light. She was either a very bad aim—which I doubted—or she was now playing with me, because it went around me and hit the columns.

Doria let out a cry.

The bolts of light hit around me, searing past me, tearing into the columns, severing the tendrils and veins. I refused to move or flinch, but I could not help blinking madly as the light almost touched me. The bolts hit all around me, more and more furiously, closer and closer to me and then in a wide arc. For a second, I caught Doria's face. She looked devastated, her face awash in tears.

Amanda stopped, her breath ragged, her teeth clenched. Her hand was trembling. She looked like she was coming out of some kind of orgasm. Her face was glistening with an oily liquid. Slowly, she walked up to me and put her feeding hand on my throat. It was cold and humid. There was no pain. Just a sickening feeling of being drained, a nausea that spread through the body. I felt my legs buckle under me.

Doria quickly hid her face. I stared back at Amanda. Very dark anger rose inside me; the anger of helplessness. The Commander, my Wraith, the Wraith whose name I knew, had delivered me to her in some act of servitude; in some game of power.

Suddenly, she drew her hand away. She turned on her heels and walked out, followed by her Wraith.

I took a step towards Doria. She looked up, her face devoured by fear and sorrow, a look I never imagined to see on her countenance. At my approach, she stood up quickly and backed away. "My lord…" she muttered. "My Wraith…" She was now sobbing in earnest, almost wailing.

"What the hell are you talking about!" I snapped at her and took another step.

She shrunk back, her body shaking. She took out the tablet from the folds of her dress and started to paw it, clasping it and hugging it to her breast. "Please… please…" she pleaded something or someone as she looked down on it, rubbing it as if it was some Pegasus version of Aladdin's lamp. "It's not working…"

"Now isn't that a big surprise!" I said. "It requires my DNA, you twit."

She looked up at me, suddenly her face changed. She worked her mouth and then, suddenly turned away and ran out, disappearing into the hazy shadows of the chamber outside my cell.

I collapsed on the floor. A deep exhaustion overtook me. I felt the ship around me shudder and move. I sunk in a deep, dark hole of unconsciousness.

I woke up in semidarkness, a loud snap in my ears. I realized that the ship had come out of hyperspace. I tried to rise, but I was weak; very weak. I could barely move. I heard a shuffling noise and then steps. Two Wraiths appeared in front of me. They grabbed my arms and picked me up, then they dragged me out of the cell and down the corridor. I tried to walk along with them, but I stumbled and tripped. They just carried me, my feet off the ground.

They shoved me into the chamber with the Queen's throne, lit up in golden light. I stumbled forward and somehow, in spite of my weakness managed to regain my equilibrium. I felt a shadow next to me.

I turned and my eyes fell on Doria's face.

A hiss made me look up. Amanda was seated on her throne, staring at me. "You look weak."

Quite against my will, as the Wraith let go of me, I collapsed on the floor.

"I have one more worshiper to punish," she murmured in a low sound, like a cicada. "Let's see if you can feed like this human scum said." She made a sign. "Let's see what abomination you have become."

"Keep in mind you have my DNA," I flung back.

She let out a loud, angry hiss. One of the Wraith picked up Doria and thrust her against me.

"Now, feed on her!"

I didn't move.

Doria shuffled closer. "Feed on me," she whispered. "Do it." Her chest rose and fell. I looked at it repulsed; I assumed that is what she would do to please her master. But, while I was getting my fill of the revolting sight, quickly, with the speed of a prestidigitator she put the tablet in right hand, out of sight of the Queen. I stared back at her. "Touch the throne," she whispered.

I looked at her in dismay.

"You'll understand," she whispered.

I was too weak to even speak and I crumbled to the floor.

"No!" she rasped at me. "NO!"

"Get her to feed on you!" Amanda screeched.

I couldn't move. I knew, right there and then, that I was dying.

Dora leaned over me.

I tried to speak, but no words came out of my mouth. There was a gleam in her eyes. She grabbed my right hand and put it to her throat. "Now, take from me."

I stared at her, wide eyed. And I felt it—a snake of warmth against the palm of my hand. I was drawing it from her into me and filling me with power. My muscles coiled, my heart beat faster. Doria's face thinned out and grayed even more.

I watched with fascination, unable to move, unable to break that connection until she was no more than a dried shell encasing bones, her mouth open in a dead grin.

Amanda was watching intently, her eyes shimmering with delight.

I pretended that I was trying to rise, but did not have the strength. In reality my body felt more powerful than ever. I stumbled forward on my knees, putting a show of gasping for air.

"Come," she beckoned. "There wasn't much life in her."

I crawled slowly, at some point actually rising to my feet, moving in a shaky crouch. I hoped I was a good mime.

"Come." Patiently, she waited for me to reach the steps to the throne.

When I got there, she reached out and rather gently helped me up the three steps. I stood in front of her, feigning the need to hold on to something. The arm of the throne…

"Kneel," she hissed.

I kneeled, my hand still hovering around the throne..

"Good." She looked me into the eyes. "After you, the traitor also dies. I want you to know that."

Her hand came at me. In a flash, Doria's words crossed my mind and propelled my left hand to touch the tablet in my pocket while my right hand lashed out at the throne's arm where I could see a glowing patch of light.

A bold of heat went through me.

The ship's floor tilted violently and Amanda fell back her hand flying away from me. Something—not a hand, nothing material—grabbed me and pushed me back and then against one of the columns. Either it was my own thought or someone spoke in my head, but I put my hand against one of the veins of light snaking up the column.

A ghost of blue light fell from the ceiling and caught Amanda in it. She hissed loudly and the alarm went off throughout the ship, its screech filling every molecule. Wraiths came running in but they stopped. A screen of force fell in front of them.

The veil of light around Amanda turned into winding ribbons and then into solid tendrils that grasped her and tightened around her. One of vine-like tendrils of light snaked around her neck and twitched. I heard the sickening sound of breaking vertebra.

The snakes became ribbons and then a ghost of light and dissipated. Amanda remained standing for a moment, then her head fell forward like a fruit on a broken stalk and, as if pulling down her body, she fell forward, hitting the floor with a thud.

Sit on the throne! It had not been a voice telling me that, but rather an image of it appeared in my mind. I ran to the throne, skirting Amanda's body and sat down. I put my hands on the arms and felt warmth running up my hands, arms and into my very core.

Well done, I heard. Or, thought I heard. Welcome to my hive.

The Wraith from across the chamber stared at me, but made no move to attack me; or retreat.

The words came to me from somewhere inside my mind, as I spoke to them: "I am not your Queen, and you will not serve me. You will serve the hive and the ship. Those of you who want to leave, you are free to do so. The hives you have left are still there and will receive you."

One by one they left.

Except for the two Wraiths with blue eyes, mirror image of one another. I noticed though, that one was a bit taller than the other. Siegfried for the taller one; Lothar for the shorter one.

They came forward and stood there, silent.

"Do you wish to stay?" I asked.

It was Siegfried who spoke. "No. But we wish to pledge our loyalty to this hive."

"Where would you go now?"

"The alliance is without Queen and without a Commander. We intend to take the place of the Commander."

"I wish you success," I said, hearing my own voice soften. Oddly, I felt for these two an affection I did not for Amanda. "I wish you would stay on this hive."

The both bowed their head.

"Where is the Commander?" Your father… Odd calling a Wraith father.

The were both very still for a few seconds. "It is not for us to speak of it," Lothar answered my question.

Two girls appeared at the far end and walked towards me, their head bent. When they reached the foot of the throne they bowed to me.

"These two," Sigfried said "are here to serve you. There are several other worshipers who will serve you and the hiveship. You need not bother yourself with them. You will probably never see them."

They bent their head in the Wraith version of a bow, turned around and marched out, their hair shimmering into the amber darkness beyond the columns.

I did not move from that spot for a long time. I was in shock, perhaps. But, my mind was full of the image of monitors showing me how two transports were leaving. The ship was now empty, with the exception of these two children. And the two male worshippers who came in to remove Amanda's body. And other worshippers whom I would probably never encounter in that great cathedral of a hiveship.

I was numb. One did not mourn for Wraith. Yet, I should mourn for the two Queens who carried my DNA; they were, although not borne of my own body, blood of my blood. I should mourn for Atlantis that had played a game of betrayal and where I knew in my deepest instinct that I would not return to; and at the end, I should mourn for that which I now could call my strange love for a Wraith with golden eyes. He was either dead or he had so deeply betrayed me—and most sorrowfully, he would not even consider it betrayal in his Wraith code—that he would never again cross my path.

I looked around me as if awakened from a deep, dark dream. I let the sequence of events click through my mind. The virus from the tablet that penetrated the Horizon systems and took us to an unknown place where a golden hiveship waited; the ship that beckoned and received me silently, only to take me away with it; the Queen, Golda as I called her at the end, who took me as her gift for another Queen, and used me to gain into an alliance; Amanda, the other Queen, the one who had hailed Atlantis and asked for a meeting, asking for me specifically; Amanda who killed the Queen, Golda, and who wanted to take over the Wraith world; and who wanted to eliminate me, the carrier of the DNA that could create more like her; the treacherous and betraying Wraith, who it seemed betrayed them both; and then, the very last moment when I killed my own; or, was it me who killed Amanda? Had she been killed to save me? Had she not attacked me, who she still be alive? Who killed her?

The ship had killed her; the ship that was now under my command.

I stood up slowly. Somewhere was the core and heart of this ship.

As I rose, the two children approached me. Each took one of my hands and drew me down the long chamber. We entered a side room and there, without words, and without me resisting, they stripped me of my Atlantis clothes that were now tattered and with spots of blood, poured water over me and washed me. Then, with the precision of a choreographed ballet, they clothed me in a long dress of golden silk, shimmering with blues and greens like the wings of a scarab and a black, tight jacket of black silk and silver, all the masterwork of some miraculous and very clever insect, I was certain. The combed my hair and braided it and then took my hand again.

They led me out and through endless corridors, deeper and deeper into the hive ship, where the columns and the chamber became more and more luminous, bathed in more and more glorious amber. My heart beat fast, my skin warming as if in the sun. I felt as if tendrils of light and scents danced around me and moved me forward.

We reached what looked like a giant enclosure of amber, the walls thin as glass. It opened and I entered it, by now my hands free from the grasp of the two girls. Inside, sheaves of light rose to the high, dome ceiling and spread out, becoming conduits of light and glowing liquid, penetrating into the ship above.

My eyes fell on the source of that light.

"Oh, God!" I let out.

In front of me was a diaphanous form with white hair and pale face, seated on a throne, the folds of the black and silver outfit cascading around him. His hands rested on his knees. He opened his eyes and the amber pupils stared at me.

My mind was filled with colors and scents; the name of my Wraith. Something golden and soothing touched me. I put out my hand but hesitated. I looked at the girl to my right. "Can I touch him?"

"Only you can, my Queen," the girl answered. She and her companion melted into the far shadows of the chamber.

I stepped forward and softly I touched the hand resting on his knee. It was strangely material to the touch, as if a real hand. I pulled back. "What have you become?" I asked in fear; and perhaps a little horror.

He stood up, tall, towering above me and bowed his head at me. The light shifted around him. He looked more powerful and more lethal, and more fantastic and impressive than I've ever seen him. He had become a being of great power, both in mind and presence. I felt it in my very being as the light twirled around me.

"I am the Ship Wraith," he said, his voice containing a strange, hollow sound. "I have not properly welcomed you to my ship when you first arrived," he said, his voice breathy, humming. He spread out his arms. "Welcome to my ship."

That is when I lost it; to put it in Earth terms—I went ballistic. It was a combination of relief that he was alive and, if not in human terms but in Wraith terms, well and victorious; and dismay and shock at everything that had happened and how it had happened.

I stood in front of him, aware of the absurdity of staring up at this Wraith with murder in my eyes, and started to yell. "YOU WELCOME ME! Welcome? This is the biggest load of Wraith crap and chutzpah I've ever seen anywhere, across two galaxies and the space between!"

He tilted his head. Obviously, he had no translation for 'chutzpah.' I wasn't sure about the 'crap' part.

"Either chutzpah," I continued on a very shrill voice, "or there's great deal of insanity among Wraith! Or the whole Wraith species is a completely insane creation!"

"What is 'chutzpah?" he asked with a little amused smile.

By now, I knew his habit of disarming me with a question. It didn't work this time.

Not sure or caring of how immaterial he was in his present manifestation, I slammed into him. I didn't care if the whole freaking ship would feed on me in response.

As it turned out, he was more material than I thought in spite of the rather vaporous appearance because I almost broke the bones of my hand, pain shooting up my arm.

Apparently caught unawares, he lost his balance (or, did he allow himself to lose his balance) and fell back in his chair. Quickly, before he could recover, I moved around him and grabbed a handful of his long hair and pulled his head back; all this time realizing that his Wraith speed was far superior to my human lumbering and that he could've stopped me long before I had taken one step. I pulled harder until his head was tilted back far enough for me to look into his amber eyes staring at me from below. He could've shaken me off with one shrug, I knew; but he didn't. He just became very still under my attack. I jerked his hair. He winced but also had a rather impish look.

"WELCOME?" I yelled at him.

"This is not very comfortable," he remarked.

I grabbed more of his hair, on the side noting how silky and warm it felt in my hand. I abstained from running my fingers through it. He looked resigned now and seemed to settle in his chair for a bit more comfort. I slammed my other hand on his leather covered shoulder. I could feel the strength under my hand. I leaned lower over him and said, this time my voice low and slow: "Let me go through what you have the balls to call welcome." His eyes narrowed as if to hide a smirk. "First you give me a tablet that ends up putting a virus in my spaceship and tosses me through hyperspace; then, you kidnap me and put me at the mercy of some half demented Queen, one of your creations with some DNA you've stolen from me-"

"You gave it to me—"

I jerked his hair—it was so silky I almost lost my grip on it. He closed his mouth.

"This wacko Queen of yours almost feeds on me and then takes me to the other crazy Queen, the one you first created with me—"

"—Amanda, as you call her."

"STOP FREAKING AROUND MY BRAIN!"

"The other one you called Golda."

I slammed my hand deeper into his hair and grabbed an even larger swath of his hair and pulled. He grinned and I could swear he was purring. My other hand slipped to his neck and down his chest. I dug into the leather that turned out to be more pliable than I thought. The purr became a low growl. I recognized it to be one of pleasure.

I was not going there! I took my hand away and let go of his hair. He turned his head an looked at me with a little grin. I stomped around and faced him again, his head turning after me, his amber gaze fixed on me with a distinctly predatory look.

"Then," I continued, having put enough distance to keep me out of his reach, "I have to stand there to watch Amanda kill Golda—nice little sword work there; did you teach her?—followed by Amanda wanting to kill me, and she shoots at me like mad—"

"—she aimed at me when she—"

"I AM NOT FINISHED! She feeds on Moira for no reason, then I almost die, but I end up feeding on Doria—DO YOU REALIZE HOW DISGUSTING THAT WAS? DO YOU?"

"You find that disgusting?"

"YES! REVOLTING!" I knew I was pouting. "Had it been a nice, tall, good looking dark haired Wraith, that might have been more palatable."

"Interesting," he mused. "Although," he considered, "I would not feed on a sickly, smelly old male human."

I suppressed a laugh. I scowled at him instead with the angriest look I could muster: "So, I find out that you made me a freaking feeding human! Then, you use me somehow and Amanda gets her neck snapped!" I rounded on him. "What did you do with my DNA? What have you turned me into?"

"I did not turn you into anything that you were not," he said softly. A Wraith's voice could be very melodious when they wanted to. I wondered, stupidly, if they sang.

"That I was not? I don't recall feeding on humans before!"

"I only put a DNA radical so that I can track you and trigger whatever was needed so that you could save yourself. You are not aggressive enough to defend yourself. With my will transmitted to this DNA radical you were able to do what was needed, what a human, and you in particular would not do."

That moment when I went for my husband's throat flashed through my mind. The impression of danger had triggered that Wraith DNA radical. I had lifted my right hand, the palm burning, ready to slam into his chest; it was a hair-trigger…

The scientist in me became intrigued and eclipsed my anger. "How can such a thing be possible?"

"The Wraith have discovered a long time ago the power of the DNA, the essence of life, the most powerful element in the universe. The Ancients played with it, but never recognized it. When they did, it was too late. We had already harnessed it." Then he added: "Forgive me, but it was necessary."

Forgive. Does a Wraith even have the concept of forgiveness? "Do Wraith forgive? Did you ever forgive anyone?"

"No. It is not necessary among Wraiths. We accept the consequences of our actions. There is no forgiveness for failure. You either survive it or die."

I started to circle him slowly. "I do not take the death of the two Queens or the death of Moira and even Doria as acceptable consequences for some cosmic failure."

"What do you care of the death of Wraith queens?"

"They had my DNA. They were of me."

He gave a little shrug. "That is meaningless to us. As you could see, they did not consider it when they decided to kill you. You were nothing to them but a human with strange powers."

"I don't think that way."

"Do not concern yourself with the death of Wraith, especially of Queens. Wraith are long lived and death is not the shock that it is to those of short life; even young Wraith regard death as unfortunate but not catastrophic. As for Moira and Doria, their only purpose was to serve and if they did by their death, then there is no issue in their death. They have already cheated death when they became worshippers instead of food."

I ruminated for a few seconds on that piece of Wraith philosophy. "You still have not told me the reason for all this; or your purpose."

"My purpose is an alliance—"

"It's always an alliance. You have more variations on an alliance then Vivaldi on his musical themes."

He inclined his head. "I saw that name in your mind. He created sounds."

I would not let him divert me anymore. "You remember that you told me that you've put your life in my hand and I have the right to kill you?"

"Wraith have good memory and keep their word."

"Really? Good. Then, let me hear your reason and purpose, and proposal for the alliance, after I hear it I'll decide whether to kill you, let you live, or rip your balls—if Wraith have them—without anesthetic; or any combination of the three."

"We have them," he answered with a gleam in his amber eyes. "I find it quite interesting how fascinated humans are with them."

"I TOLD YOU TO GET OUT OF MY BRAIN!" I lowered my voice. "Now, explain." I felt this urge to grab his hair again. I still felt the silkiness and warmth in my hand.

He stood up again and the lights shifted. He paced a few steps as if confined by the circle of that cocoon of light and then let out a humming breath. "It was my intention to explain to you all this." He faced me. "The chain of events you presented was correct. But your interpretation is the one typical of a human who does not understand the way of the Wraith. You are better at it than any human I've known, but you are still lacking."

"Sorry to disappoint. Enlighten me."

"I meant you no harm, of course. To the contrary. I am the only one who stood between you and capture and death." Unusually for a Wraith, he hesitated. Although, I was learning over time that the display of hesitation was really another little trick of theirs. However, this time, I believed that it was a real hesitation. "At the end, I suppose, it became an opportunity to obtain that which I had wanted but thought I could not obtain." He peered at me. "You will understand."

"I can hardly wait." He did, however, get my attention. I felt more at an instinctive than logical level that the hesitation had been one caused by emotion a Wraith did not reveal. I was also struck, suddenly, by the fact that he would 'explain.' This Wraith found it necessary to explain to a human. I was defenseless on his hiveship, with nowhere to go; a captive. And yet, I did not feel a captive and I felt no danger or fear. "The working of a Wraith mind is a study in the fantastic." I smiled toothily.

"Yours is equally interesting. You have a mind I enjoy and find very satisfying to engage."

The declaration startled me; and, well… soothed me, I have to admit. Coming from a Wraith, it was quite a statement. But, I covered the moment of gratification with human flippancy: "You mean it's not my beauty?"

He tilted his head.

Although suspecting that once again he was veering away from the 'explanation', I decided to pursue for a little bit the issue of beauty; the one in the eye of the beholder. "I've always been curious—do Wraith see beauty in humans?"

He inclined his head over me. "In as much as humans see it in Wraith."

"Do Wraith distinguish other Wraith based on good looks and beauty?"

There was a longish pause. "Yes." He allowed a slight hiss at the end.

"Are you considered… good looking?"

"What do you think?"

I blinked to hide a smile. Good heavens! He was vain! But then I would not be surprised at all if the Wraith males primped and pranced around the Queen; it would not be the first time in nature. Birds of paradise came to mind… "You are an acquired taste," I answered primly.

"Indeed." He seemed quite pleased.

I recovered my threatening stance. "Now, back to whether I kill you or not."

He nodded. "My intent when I left you the tablet was that I could reach you were you to be in danger from another Wraith; or human. Also, it would've given you the location of a hiveship that could take you to where we were hibernating for protection, were you to need it. But, none of that either became necessary or was it possible. Not until you boarded the Horizon and hacked into its system. When I sent the ship into hyperspace to where this hiveship was, the tablet served exactly the purpose for which I intended to use it."

"Which was to capture me like a bug in an iratus net?" I was dangerously close to hitting him again. But, I abstained as I was sure there were limits to his equanimity in being manhandled by me.

"Which was to take you out of the path of danger."

"Into Golda's jaws?" Or, hand…

"Into my ship; to me. Just listen."

Fine. I looked for somewhere to sit down. Someone must've read my mind because a worshipper appeared like a shadow and placed a rather Baroque looking chair in front of the Commander. I looked at it. It was not Wraith standard issue furniture. "Did you cull this?" I sat down. "For me?"

"Yes."

"What happened to the owner of this chair?"

"The chair was in exchange for his life."

"You are a romantic." I leaned back in the chair. "Go on."

There was a long moment of silence. "After I left Atlantis," he said, "with the alliance secured, I proceeded with the plan I outlined. We departed to go into hibernation. While most of the hive and our faction entered hibernation, I created another Queen, to start the growth of my hive."

"From what DNA?"

"The twin of the Queen you call Amanda."

"Clone?"

"No, of course not." He seemed indignant. "I had from you two strings of genetic material. And that's all I had," he hastened to add. "After I created the second Queen—"

"Golda—"

"Golda, if you must give her a name, I followed two parallel paths—the first to expand my faction with the new Queen while in hibernation; and the second to find a way towards a new alliance between you and me. I believed that you would not be adverse to it, although you would be adverse to some aspects of it. I had to resolve many issues towards my ultimate goal. Also, I knew you to be in constant danger, regardless of alliances. While that is acceptable to a Wraith Queen, you are not Wraith." He grinned. "In spite of certain moments I've observed."

"Go on."

"In addition, you would always be the human and not acceptable as such. My own status would be diminished if seen to have too close an alliance; or even call it that. Although I have given you Wraith gifts, and could give you more, you would not be accepted by my fellow Wraiths. The queens would certainly be of great danger to you. It was a complicated issue I had to solve. You appreciate it, I am sure."

I nodded.

"I had many solutions, but none seemed satisfactory at the end."

I took a mental step back. Why would an alliance with me be so important to this powerful Wraith? What moved him?

"Not unless," he continued, "either Wraith or human changes radically."

"I don't think either one of us would desire to do so. We're both happy in our skins."

He nodded. "That was the problem that preoccupied me. And then there was a confluence of events that forced my hand. First, the word of your existence and DNA spread through the Wraith factions. You became a threat on one hand and a coveted source of DNA on the other hand. Many of our Queens have been killed in battle and creating new ones has been near impossible. That is why my faction would've been the most powerful, because of the number of queens. No need to tell you what that meant to your existence if you returned to the Pegasus. The second event was more one of miscalculation on my part—I misjudged the force of a Queen's instinct to dominate and to eliminate a possible rival, or even the possibility of a rival. I overlooked the power of that instinct and how, at the end, it defines a Queen." He moved slightly. "It is more than instinct; it is biological. To the point that the Queen you call Amanda developed a feeding hand as soon as she detected the existence of a second Queen in the hive. Also, the presence of the second Queen woke her and the hive from hibernation." He shook his head. "I should've known."

"No forgiveness for miscalculations."

"None."

"What happened then?"

"The first Queen, the one you call Amanda, was driven by a desire disproportionate to her age and her position in the alliance—her position was entirely determined by me to take sole charge and supreme power before it was her time. Her time to do this would be determined by the number of Wraiths she has created for her hive. Besides the two Wraith you saw, she had not created any other. All the Wraith of the hive had been brought by me."

"You started the hibernation before she had a chance," I said. "Was that no part of your plan to limit her power, the same as the lack of feeding hand?"

He made a little noise; what I called his 'it's complicated' purr. "Yes…" He made another noise that sounded to my ear like an exasperated sigh. "I believe that had she not had the human element from you she would not have acted so foolishly and so counter her own interests. I think the human element in her made her unstable." He shook his head. "The path she believed would take her to become the established queen of the hive and eventually the Primary, was to kill me, using, for the consumption of the hive and those loyal to me, the excuse of Wraith tradition to kill the male who provided DNA for a Queen; although I did not have the DNA. But, she said that I had you and could summon you anytime I wanted—she was convinced of that, and bent on proving it. She also wanted to eliminate the second Queen, the one you call Golda. And that is when I put together my plan. I convinced the second Queen to leave the hive and create her own hive. For that she needed male Wraith loyal to her to build the hiveship for her. This was the first opportunity for me to initiate my parallel plan, one no one suspected. I needed to disappear from the first Queen's sight and also I needed to lay the foundation for my ultimate goal."

"Which was?"

The Commander seemed not to hear my question. "I left with the second Queen and in the depth of the Galaxy, I gathered young male Wraith willing to follow a new Queen and thus elevate themselves to a status they would not be able to reach in an old, established hive. I became the hive ship. Before I left the first Queen, I knew that she was putting together a scheme to find you and capture you. It was part of her instinct and drive as a Queen, to eliminate even the source of a rival. To me, it became an opportunity to eliminate both Queens."

"Why?" I sounded outraged; and I was, although these were Wraith ways that had nothing to do with human morals or values.

He looked me squarely in the face. "They were both flawed. They were not truly Wraith; not as a Wraith should be, pure bred. It showed in their behavior. They were erratic, unusually murderous and subject to their instincts. Neither one could lead a hive. They were a danger to everyone. This was very troubling and I had to correct the mistake. My idea of using your DNA failed. I was greatly disappointed."

"Indeed," I mused.

"Before I left the first Queen, while she still considered me her faithful Wraith, I dripped into her mind the idea of forcing Atlantis into a meeting with her and to trick them into bringing you. What the plan was, you know."

"I know some of it…" I want to hear it from the horse's—Wraith's—mouth. I prompted: "I take it that taking captives and threatening to feed on them was not part of YOUR plan."

His gaze shifted on me, and there was mischief in it. "What makes you say that?"

"You are brutal in your methods, but not simple or crude. This is quite crude."

He nodded softly as if acknowledging the compliment. "Indeed," he purred. "That had not been part of my plan. Nor did I expect the deal the new leader of Atlantis wanted to make."

I almost flinched. "And that deal was?"

"You in exchange for the location of my hibernating hives." He showed his teeth. "A false deal since these were the Queen's hives, not mine; or at least that's what she thought. Also, and this was at my suggestion, your Feng did not know that he was dealing with my Queen."

I held back my anger. That was a score I had to settle as soon as I settled my score with the Commander; if there was a score to settle with him.

"The word went out," the Commander continued, "that the Queen was seeking a new alliance. At least, that's the whisper I put in the second Queen's ear."

"Golda…"

"Golda. I told her that she has an opportunity to be part of the alliance and thus establish herself as a Queen in her own right, recognized by the first Queen. However, she had to offer something to force her way into the alliance."

"Me!"

"Exactly."

"Charming. And you see nothing wrong in that?"

He tilted his head and let out a small hum. "I was not your enemy in this. You were my ally, the only one I could rely on; the one I gave the means to take control when the time was right." He sounded a bit breathier than normal.

"I'll take that on face value, for the moment," I said.

"As soon as I got you on the hive ship, after I broke into your ship's system and sent it into hyperspace, having convinced the Queen—er, Golda—how priceless you are alive and unharmed, having planted the two worshipers to serve me while pretending they were loyal to the Queen, I then contacted—through Moira—the first Queen, your Amanda, to tell her that I desire to return to her as her loyal Wraith and as her Commander; in return and as an offering, I would deliver to her Golda and you."

"This is getting very charming, indeed." Just as I said these words, a few things tumbled in place in my mind and I asked: "But, Queen Amanda intended to kill you after you'd deliver Golda and me to her."

There was a look of satisfaction on his face. "You understand. That's why I enjoy our discussions. They are very stimulating."

A compliment from a Wraith.

"Of course she meant to kill me."

"And she was too arrogant to realize that you would know that."

"Naturally." He seemed happy at my conclusion.

"She seemed very secure of your loyalty and that you would protect her when she came on board the ship."

"Yes. It is I who arranged for her to kill the second Queen. It is I who ensured that she could carry the sword. That's how she knew—or was fooled to think—from the moment she set foot on the hive that she had my protection and she could carry out her plan."

Pieces feel together in my mind. "She didn't know that you were the Ship Wraith, did she?"

"No. Had she known my true powers, she would have never come. Even she, in her arrogance, would've realized my treachery."

"And Golda was secure in her belief that you were loyal because you were HER Ship Wraith."

"Another fool."

Was I the only one who should not fear this Wraith? How was he fooling me. I fell mentally silent and let him continue.

He waited for a few seconds for me to speak. But, when my silence continued, he said: "You then saw what happened when the First Queen came on board the hive ship. At the first opportunity, she carried out the first part of the plan I gave her and killed the second Queen. At this point, she thought that she had gotten the two offerings for reinstating me as her Commander. But, she became overconfident and impatient. She wanted to kill me right there and then; but also she wanted to savor my fall by baiting me and demanding new proof of my loyalty-she wanted me to feed on you. I think the human side of her understood, like you, something I did not in my own intentions."

"You mean… your attraction to my pheromones?" I quipped in the need to break my own uneasiness of where this was going.

"I haven't figured that out. Yet," he suddenly mused. "As you correctly determined, she did not know that I was in a different form and was all around her; and you, a human, were the key to the success of my plan and my survival. She would never imagine that I would give a human such a gift. Also, what she did not realize was that she and I were now equals, and as such, one of us would have to die. She was too young and inexperienced, and flawed, to realize that I had broken all ties with her and was her deadliest enemy. So were you, though you did not know it. Had she been a mature and experienced Queen, she would have never fallen in my trap."

"It was a rather obvious one," I agreed.

"When she did find out that I was the ship—Doria, the worshipper always so eager to please, told her—she became enraged and attacked me." He seemed to shudder. "That was a grave error on her part, one for which she would quickly pay."

"You mean, when she started to shoot around and at the walls?"

"Yes."

"Did she hurt you?" I suddenly felt in my stomach the crackle of the fire bolts coming out of Amanda's weapon, hitting and burning the walls.

"I healed quickly. But she killed Moira, whom I had placed in this hive to hear my commands and transmit them to you. However, as it turned out, Doria was more loyal to me than to her Queen. That was a welcome surprise."

"Less surprising than you think."

"Why?"

"You are male…"

He looked at me quizzically, but did not pursue it. "When she saw that the Queen had wounded me and that she wanted to kill me, and having understood, somehow, your connection to me, she betrayed her Queen."

"I saw it when she turned against her…"

"Her instinct for me was stronger than for the Queen. She took Moira's place." He tilted his head with a jerk. "She gave you her life so that you could have strength to defend yourself and the strength to connect with me."

"You commanded her to give me her life?"

He nodded sharply.

I felt a shudder. The thought that I could feed on another human being suddenly horrified me. It made me ill.

He looked at me pensively and answered my silent horror. "No need to be concerned. You might have the vague instinct or urge to feed because of some of the Wraith DNA bits you absorbed from mine when we created the Queen, but you cannot really feed. It was I who fed on Doria and gave you the strength."

I looked down on my hand. I was not sure I believed him. "Why does my right palm feel things and connections?"

"An unexpected side effect. Quite interesting." He took my hand and placed it in his feeding hand. He closed his eyes slightly while he gripped my hand rather gently, although I could feel the strength of his fingers and the touch of the finger guards. My palm tingled; quite pleasurably, I had to admit. It sent a soft, vague but distinct quiver through me. I withdrew my hand. He opened his eyes and looked at me. "Yes, interesting," he said.

I stepped back. "You gave me the DNA to keep me tethered to you," I hurled at him, suddenly feeling that old outrage again.

"That was never my intention. You were always free to go and do the opposite. But without it, you would now be dead at the hand of a Wraith Queen. Not a pleasant way to go."

I was silent.

"When you touched the arm of the throne with your hand, as I commanded you—"

"Commanded!" I rounded on him.

"Suggested," he corrected himself with a bit of a smirk. "—you connected with my mind. You took control of me from the Queen and thus gave me the freedom to act against her. I was able to kill her and make this ship yours." He was quiet for a second as if to let his last statement sink in. He inclined his head. "If you so wish it to be your ship."

_The ship is you, _I mused silently. Do I dare interpret it to mean that he is… _mine_? "The ship is you."

I received a hardly perceptible nod. "Have you decided on whether to kill me or not?" Was there whimsy in his voice?

I was silent for a long time. Needless to say, I was not going to kill him; not that I would be able to. I let his story pass through my mind, bit by bit, like the beads of a rosary. There was no malice in it; there was no treachery in it; at least no treachery or threat to me in a Wraith's world. There had been no harm meant to me. To the contrary. It was the Wraith way of things. I was beginning to understand things about this Wraith that he himself I don't think would even begin to understand. Or, may be he did, in his own Wraith way. He certainly seemed to respond to his desire to have me with him; if one could call it desire. But whatever was driving him, he wanted me there.

"Where is that Ancient device, the one you used to create the Queen?" I asked.

He regarded me for a second and jerked his head, a gesture that seemed to indicate satisfaction with something. "Ah!" he exclaimed. "Just as I thought. You do think more like Wraith than you know."

"It's a case of knowing you better than you imagine."

"Indeed." He seemed to like that and appreciate it. "The device is on this ship. I could not have it fall in anyone's hands or leave it behind, even though the two Wraith who are now commanders of my hives are loyal to me." He peered at me. "You have a name for them?"

"Siegfried and Lothar. Not that I can tell which is which." A thought occurred to me. "They also have my DNA, don't they?"

"Yes, as you can tell from the color of their eyes. But, it is diminished; and also it does not seem to affect males the way it does the Queen." He paced back and forth and stopped. "As I said, I am proposing an alliance between you and me."

An alliance… That one way to qualify it.

"I find alliances with Wraith highly unpredictable," I said. "I never know what they really mean."

He nodded, as if he understood. "It will benefit both of us."

"Not the whole Galaxy?" I mocked.

"You and I, and that device, are a danger to ourselves and to the Galaxy. We could wreak havoc with the balance by creating a million queens—"

"I am not that productive—"

He ignored my remark. "Also, if either you or the device, or both fell into the wrong hands, it would be a disaster to my hives and to Atlantis."

"F* Atlantis," I muttered.

He looked surprised; either because he did know what 'f*' was, or because of the tone of my voice that revealed my sentiments. "What I propose is that you and I form an alliance to conceal and protect the device, put your DNA beyond reach."

"And we do that how?"

He hesitated. "We travel far and wide through the galaxy and beyond, you and I, free of everyone and everything. You cannot live among the Wraith. I cannot live among humans. I cannot live on a planet and farm fruits. You cannot join us in cullings. I had to create a world that both of us can live in. This ship."

I looked into his eyes, as if trying to see there what he had left unspoken. He was hiding behind an alliance to 'benefit the Galaxy and him; and me', but in reality he was using it—the perennial opportunist that he was to… to… to WHAT? I took in a deep breath. Normally, I would've said something mocking or flippant. But, I knew that this was too serious for this Wraith for me to mock. This was not a mocking matter. I realized, at that moment, how much respect I had for him.

I went close and slowly, tentatively, put my hand on the leather on his chest. It still felt like leather; it still felt material and I could feel his breath, but it had a strange vibration to it. My hand seemed to penetrate into a thin layer of the image. "You feel so unreal. I like the material form of you. I told you you're an acquired taste."

"My form is of no consequence," he said dismissively, sounding very much like the contemptuous Wraith. "It is the relation and the loyalty; and conversation. In the form you've known me I would have to feed upon humans. As a Ship Wraith, I take the energy of the universe around me."

"I have a short life. I would not be here for long."

"It could be longer than the normal span of a human's life."

I considered that for a bit, letting the thought wash over me. "I would not want that," I said softly. "I don't want to become something that is not naturally human; the way you would not want to be anything else but a Wraith."

"However long you would be in my hiveship, it would be a gift."

A Wraith way of admitting emotion. Somewhere behind that cunning and metallic intelligence, there was emotion; suppressed for so long, that it was forgotten; it didn't even have a name. And I would not use the human name for it. I don't think love was a Wraith concept.

So, then; let's call it alliance.

"What would you do after I am gone? Where would you go?" I asked.

"I have lived long. I would just drift to the edges of the galaxy and beyond, until I was no more. My cycle would be complete."

I was stunned; I was shocked; I was pleased; I was happy; I was exhilarated; I was frightened.

It was my turn to pace. "But, first, I have a score to settle."

"You will give me an answer regarding the alliance after you've settled the score?"

"Yes."

"I can assume that you won't grab me by the hair again and bang my head on every column?"

He had an almost roguish look on his face as he cracked a smile. I was beginning to suspect that he liked the idea of being dragged around by the hair. "Not today," I answered primly. "But, I do need your assistance."

"This score you wish to settle—"

"I need your assistance."

"As you command my assistance, I assume that we have an alliance." He had that impish look again.

"Although over-confidence suits you, Commander, don't push it."

He straightened up and said in a military tone: "You have my help."

You gotta love an obedient Wraith…

"I have a question," he said suddenly.

"Yes…"

"What do humans call this kind of alliance between two people, when one is willing to give up her world to be with another, even if short lived, and in your case for the rest of your life?"

I stared at him. "I didn't say yes, yet," I obfuscated.

"If you said yes," he insisted.

"We have no name for it," I lied.

"You are not telling the truth."

"I am not, you're right."

"Tell me."

"You would not understand it."

"Perhaps I would."

"It's called stupid love."

He seemed taken aback for a moment. I could tell from the way he tilted his head that he was translating it somewhere in the depth of his mind. He shook his head and didn't say anything more.

After a while he sat down. "You said you needed my assistance."

"First, I have a couple of questions."

"Naturally." He smiled.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

While thinking of the question to ask, I went to one of the columns and ran my hand over the ribbons of blue amber. It felt suddenly warm under my fingers and it sent a soft shudder through me. I drew my hand away, startled, and threw the Commander a look. He had a half smile on his face.

"You felt that…" I let out, feeling my face blush.

"Only when I so choose." The answer had been spoken in a low purr.

"How much of touch do you feel?" I asked, trying to put on my scientist's voice.

"Only the Queen's touch, and that only if a so choose. It would be quite uncomfortable if I felt everything that walked and moved. I can, however, detect everything by energy signature, again, if I so choose or need. I can also incapacitate and kill the intruders or enemies either when commanded by the Queen or in defense of her."

"How free are you in what you do?"

There was a hardly perceptible pause. "Absolutely in control."

"Even if there was a Queen on this hiveship?"

"I would be at the Queen's command if she named me."

"She has complete command?"

"To a degree and only in as much as she has won my loyalty." He grinned. "It's complicated."

"Obviously." I smiled back. "It makes such a ship unpredictable."

"And dangerous. Only the most powerful Queen with the strongest will can control a Ship Wraith. That is why we are so few and the rest of the ships are… well…" There was a shrug.

"I take it no Queen has given you a name."

"I have no name as a Ship Wraith." There was a vague smile. "I choose my Queen."

I put my right hand—the one with the tingly palm—on the column, this time on the glowing part. The touch sent a wave through me that was so sharp and intense that it made me shudder. I had to steady myself, which made me grasp the surface under my hand even more. The pleasure I felt made me gasp in spite of myself and I knew my face had turned red with embarrassment and realization that this Wraith seemed to know more or possess more of certain arts than I realized.

I looked at him wide eyed with surprise. I met the very golden gaze of his amber eyes. I heard a low purr.

"Are you doing a scientific experiment," he asked in a low whisper.

I pulled my hand away and stepped away from the column. The bloody Wraith was flirting!

"Yes," I answered primly.

"I see… It's part of your questions?"

"Yes! No…" I shook my head. If I stayed with him, it would be interesting, a little thought fluttered through my head. I wonder if somewhere on this ship there's that pool Amanda had spoken about. I pushed away the thought and the sharp imaginary feeling that came with it.

The feel of the place changed around me. It was now neutral, inert, the lights less bright and the walls less luminous. The Commander returned to his seat and seemed to be very, very far away, an untouchable being.

I offended him, I fretted suddenly.

"I meant no offense," I said softly and just as soon as the words flew out of my mouth I was afraid that I was showing weakness and acting like a silly female.

But his gaze on me, although lacking that golden tinge it was not feral or cold. "I was distracting you."

"You were making a point," I shot back, having found my balance.

"So, what do you wish to ask?"

"Are all hive ships like you, with an active, full intelligence at its core?"

"No. A hiveship such as this is rare. It only belongs to Primary Queens."

"What kind of nervous system, or sensory system do the other hive ships have?"

"They are alive, if that is your question. They react to commands to regenerate and heal itself. But, in all other things they are like… like plants."

"But they have a neural system similar with a Wraith?"

"Yes. They have Wraith DNA."

He had tilted his head slightly to display his silent 'why?'

"Do these ships ever get too old or damaged?"

"Yes. Making new ships such as these is not difficult."

"What happens to them when they are no longer of use? Do they die?"

"In a manner of speaking, they die. Again, like a tree, they just dry up in a manner of speaking."

"Where do you take such a ship? Do you let them drift in space?"

"There are a couple of planets we have. We let the ships orbit the planet until they die and fall."

"Death planets for the hive ships," I whispered.

"Yes."

"Would an outside be able to tell that these hive ships are different than the ones alive?"

This time there was open puzzle on his face. But he answered, perhaps having grasped some of my un-verbalized thoughts: "Only a Wraith can sense that the ship is dying."

"Would it look to a human like a hibernating ship?"

"If they knew how one looks…"

"Assume they do."

"It could look like a cluster of hibernating ships."

"Could you turn some lights on?"

"Yes…"

I grinned. "Bingo!"

###

"Doctor Vries!" Colonel Santos exclaimed as he looked at my image on the screen of his ship. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, quite," I answered. "I could not contact you until now."

"Our signal indicates that you are communicating from a Wraith ship."

"That is correct. A hiveship to be exact. Our old allies."

"Amazing how Wraith never feed you on, Doctor." Santos grinned. "Great to see you."

"Was Feng worried about me?"

Santos gave me a long look that travelled through space to the screen glowing with a red background in the hiveship's command center. "He showed unusual concern. Although I am not sure exactly what about."

"I take it," I said, maintaining a light tone, "that there was no meeting with the Queen."

Santos appeared to let out his breath. "There was no meeting; there was no hiveship at the rendezvous point and certainly no Queen. We found empty space."

"Really? And the hostages?"

"No one knew a thing."

"Have you ever figured out what Feng really wanted out of this?"

His face became grim. "You are alive, Doctor Vries. That's all I need to figure out. When are you returning to Atlantis?"

I smiled. "After Doctor Feng and I complete our mission."

"I see…" There was a twinkle in his eye. "Is it the same mission?"

"Well…"

"Let me reword that—your goal and his are the same?"

"Oh, yes!" I said breezily. "I will need you on my side."

"I see…"

"Let me qualify that—not actively; just passively."

Santos thought for a second. "I can do that."

"I would like to speak with Feng."

He grinned again. "Delighted to patch you through."

Not many liked Feng, I thought as I waited.

"You trust Colonel Santos?" I heard the Commander ask.

"Yes," I said. "However, I would not put him to the test; or ask him to choose sides."

"You do not trust him, then."

"I do not want to compromise him or ask him to sacrifice either his life or his career."

"He is an honorable man." I turned slowly in the general direction of where the core of the ship was. "He would never agree to follow through with Feng's plan. But, if the orders came from his military superiors, he would obey. And right now, I do not know if there are any orders."

"You like him."

The voice—if one could call it that—sounded—if one could say it had a sound—flat.

Could a Wraith be jealous? I shook my head. They felt too superior to humans to entertain jealousy for one.

"Our world," I said, "is as complicated as yours and even more dangerous than a hiveship." I touched the console and passed my fingers over the smooth edges.

"So I have observed," came the Wraith's answer after a long pause.

His presence faded.

There was a thin buzz and the wall in front of me glowed red. Feng's face appeared, as if a ghost in the wall of the hive ship.

"We have been very worried about you, Doctor Vries," Feng said, offering a smile. "That you are well and hale, unharmed on a Wraith ship, it is a miracle."

"I've wondered myself, at some point," I said, suddenly feeling the need to be evasive. "But this is the ship of our Wraith allies."

Feng was silent for a few seconds. I could not tell whether it was the time needed for my voice to reach him and then reach me, or he was using that time window to think of his answer. "Things have changed since you've left, Doctor Vries."

"What has changed?"

"First, it is our understanding that our ship was actually hijacked into a hyperspace jump."

I had no argument there. Besides, I wanted him to finish. Also, instinct told me to be silent.

"Second, you were virtually kidnapped. Or so we thought."

_So we thought?_

"Technically, yes, I was kidnapped."

"Technically? That is a curious stipulation, Doctor Vries. We've engaged the Wraith across the galaxy in search of you."

"That is equally curious, Doctor Feng, given the fact that you had made a deal with the Wraith Queen to deliver me to her in exchange for the location of the hibernating hives."

A shot across the bow. Perhaps, a hasty move, but I was not going to allow him to lead the conversation. I knew, in my very core, that he was leading to some accusation.

His answer came quickly, as if he had thought of it beforehand; of course he had. That only proved to me that the accusation was true. "Do you believe a Wraith?"

What I said next, was incautious; I knew it as soon as I had spoken it. But, for some reason, I had a strange, giddy feeling of power far and beyond the likes of Feng. I felt my right palm tingle; freaking Wraith DNA! Apparently, it was giving me Wraith arrogance; not a good thing in a human. "In this particular case, given the evidence, yes."

Feng blinked. "That is very troubling, Doctor Vries."

"I believe that I've been troubling to you from the beginning."

"No, Doctor Vries. It is true that you were sent to Atlantis to deal with the Wraith against my advice. But, you were not troubling to me. These are not my sentiments. I am conveying to you the sentiments of the IOA and I am really trying to caution you." He looked as if he was taking in a deep breath before the next pronouncement. "In the meantime, I am sure you would like to return to Atlantis as soon as possible. We'd rather that you do not arrive with a Wraith escort; it would not look good for you." He paused, for effect, to make sure that I understood the significance of what he had just said. I pretended to understand nothing.

I asked innocently: "Have there been any hot engagements with Wraiths?"

"We are at war. And your loyalties are in question Doctor Vries. That is why I am suggesting that you return to Atlantis without delay, in our ship, as tempting as it is for you, as a scientist, to remain longer and learn more about the Wraith; as beneficial as that would be for us, I think you should interrupt it immediately." There was something unmistakably mendacious about that last statement. The implication as to my preferences for staying with the Wraith was obvious.

I nodded. So, I was under suspicions. For what? I was not military. Suspicion of deserting was not in order. Treason? Treason of Earth and human race? There were no such laws. Yet…

"Have there been any human casualties in these skirmishes?" I asked.

"They were more than skirmishes. They were extensive battles. It is our understanding that the Wraith hives involved belonged to Beauregard's—I mean, your Commander's—alliance of hives. It is my understanding that he was in charge, as his Queens were dead." His face turned a sour stern and threatening. "Some of the extensive human casualties may be laid at your door, Doctor Vries, if you do not provide us with a report that explains everything that has happened on your side."

"I understand," I said slowly. Nausea bit at me.

"We will send the Horizon at a rendez-vous point if we have the assurance that we will not be attacked."

"Would it not have made more sense to use a relay of stargates? Why risk sending the Horizon?"

The communication was cut off and I remained gazing at the empty screen of flowing red light. Had the Wraith cut off the communication? Or had Feng? If the Commander, why? If Feng, why?

But that was only one question. The hint that I might be under scrutiny and that I might stand being accused of working with the Wraith against the interests of Earth and Atlantis, or at the very least that I was misguided in my 'ideas', vexed me greatly. It made me take a step back and view things from the other side; from Feng's and Atlantis' side. Would I think the same thing? I certainly would like to hear a full report on what happened.

And the full report, the whole truth nothing but the truth, more than troubled me.

There was also the revelation of the battles between Wraith and Atlantis. How many casualties among humans? How many have been culled, while there was the false impression of a cold peace with the Wraith? How many Wraith hives had been destroyed? All this while I was romancing a Wraith.

I shuddered as I felt as if a cold, wet and smelly rag had hit my face.

"So, they call me Beauregard," the Commander's voice sounded in my head.

I flinched. And I realized, suddenly, what an idiot I had been. What a fool, what a stupid, human female. What an arrogant fool; on both sides of the equation.

"Tell me, Commander, about the war that has broken up between your faction and Atlantis. And why you've told me nothing about it."

"Perhaps you should tell me about the new weapon Atlantis used against the Wraith."

I was silent for a moment, caught off balance. "I am not sure what weapon you speak of," I said, having found my voice and wits. "Tell me about it, and I'll let you know. And who attacked first? Wraith or human?"

"In answer to your second question—that's complicated. In answer to your first question—I do believe you know the weapon I speak of. As you humans say—don't insult my intelligence."

A cold feeling pooled in my stomach. "Why do you think I know of it? Tell me how it worked, and I'll tell you if it's the one I would know about."

"You asked about the nervous system of a ship like this and of ordinary hive ships. You know of this weapon." The voice was feral. There was a shift in the light around me. The amber tones turned citrine, harsh.

"If it attacked the Wraith nervous system, yes, I knew something about it. But, not as much as you think or hope. I am just as surprised of its actual existence as you are. I had a plan to trap Feng, to find out about its reality, to smoke him out. Also, I wanted to get even with him for what he did with me. It was not a trick and I did not mean to deceive you." I wished I could look into his eyes. "I understand why you suspected me when I asked about dead or dying ships that could look like hibernating ships."

"I did find it curious. I am sure it was part of some clever plan. But, you did not tell me the whole story."

"No, I did not. There is still the Wraith on one side and Atlantis on the other. You are still of the Wraith and I am still human. Neither would turn against their own kind. Avoid them, perhaps; you would save me, this human, I would save you, the Commander, this Ship Wraith. But, you would wage war in the same manner and cull and feed upon humans as you always did, and I would fight the Wraith to defend Atlantis the same as I would always do. You would not deliver the Wraith to me, and I would not deliver humans to you." I spread out my arms. "There's only this hive ship where one human and one Wraith do not want to kill one another."

There was a long silence. A very long silence. One which I was the first to break. "Before I left Atlantis to the rendez vous, Moira told me that she believed Feng was developing a weapon. I didn't believe that it was more than a gleam in his eyes."

"A what?"

"At best just on paper. That is why I asked what it did, to know if it is the weapon Moira told me about."

"I was used against a group of Wraith who had come through the stargate. It melted their nervous system. It is the same weapon. Moira also informed me of it. And she told me that she had conveyed the information to you as well."

I took a breath. "So, it is true then. The weapon exists…"

"Do you think it could have the same effect on the ship?"

"If it has a nervous system like you, yes. If it's like the other ships, perhaps." Then I asked. "Was the attack on the Wraith at the stargate what started the war?"

"Who knows…"

"It can't have been going very long since it happened since my, well… sojourn to your ship."

"It doesn't have to be long to be devastating."

I swallowed. "Is that why you kept me on this ship?"

"It's again, complicated. I believe the attack had something to do with you. Your Colonel Santos. He may have been the one who wanted to rescue you, and Feng found it opportune."

I smiled ruefully. "Amazing. You call him my colonel Santos. And he, and the whole of Atlantis, calls you 'my Wraith."

"They are mistaken."

It was cold around me. A soft, whirling mist started to rise from the floor, shrouding everything, snaking at my feet. "I want to leave your ship," I said, as quietly as I could, in spite of the spin inside me that seemed to draw me deeper and deeper into its depths.

"As you wish," he answered just as quietly. But, there was something very wistful in the tone of his voice. Almost sad.

"Take me to a planet with a gate. I do not trust the Horizon anywhere near here."

There was no answer, but there was the feeling of agreement with my request.

Just as I stepped back from the console, the doors of the command room opened with that strange, organic sound of Wraith ships and the two blue eyed Wraith with my DNA—Siegfried and Lothar—walked in, marching towards me as if a reflection of one another, both tall with flowing white hair, the hem of their elaborate leather outfits snapping at their ankles. They stopped in front of me, their hands behind their back, two pair of blue, cat eyes observing me as if I was a mouse. I produced two very handsome Wraith grandsons, I thought sardonically. They would feed on me in the blink of an eye.

I had not realized that they were on the ship. There were many things I did not realize.

The one on the right—Siegfried, I decided—spoke first: "The Ship Wraith has commanded us to take you to a transport and to a planet with a gate. First we will jump into hyperspace."

The one on the left—Lothar by default-stepped around the console and I moved back before he could brush me aside physically.

He placed his hand on the palm press.

The floor of the ship pitched violently forward, throwing both Wraiths off balance, Siegfried tumbling to the floor in a rather un-elegant heap, Lothar hanging on to the edges of the console.

The walls around us flashed a violent yellow and red, the colors rippling like waves of pain and a high pitched screech filled the ship, followed by another violent shudder.

I found myself hanging on to Lothar. Interestingly enough, he had not shaken off my grip on him. He turned his face to me and the slit pupils were glaring at me.

"This is no jump in hyperspace!" I cried out.

"We're under attack."

"Jump!" I yelled at him.

"The Ship Wraith is stunned …"

There was a flash of light cutting through the chamber and a cylinder materialized on the floor.

I stared at it in dismay, a big sinking hole inside me.

"It has been transported here from a human ship," Lothar announced with Wraith clinical detachment.

Siegfried got up to his feet and approached it, leaning over it.

"Don't touch it!" I screamed, a terrible suspicion forming in my mind. I rushed to it and picked it up, cradling it in my arms as if to smother it. "Take me to a dart and out of this ship. NOW!"

I ran through the endless corridors, Siegfried leading me, his hair flying behind him like a luminous veil in the gloom of the ship. The device was warming up in my arms. Somehow I felt that I would be a shield. I looked down on it as I ran after Siegfried's tall figure ahead of me. The cylinder in my hands was parting in the middle, revealing a glowing green core. It was getting activated. With all the force at my disposal I tried to push it shut. It pulsated and resisted me.

"Forgive me!" I howled in my mind. But I got no answer. I ran, panting, the long skirt I wore tripping me.

I knew it was a slow device—at least that is what Moira believed—and that there was time. How much, I did not know. Keeping it from opening fully would slow it even more. It was burning in my hand and perspiration started to run down my face. I tripped.

Siegfried turned, leaped to where I was and grabbed me off the floor. He lifted me up and ran with me, my feet barely touching the floor, his arms holding me like in a vice.

In the dart bay, he shoved me into the first dart and pulled the hutch over me. The ship came alive, lifted off the floor and the bay doors started to open. I turned to my grandson and without knowing whether he could hear me, or read my thoughts, I yelled at him, as the chamber was depressurizing and he was disappearing behind the closing bulk doors "Take care of him!" My mind brought forth the colors and scents that named my Wraith.

The bay doors opened and I hurdled into space, the dart doing several cartwheels through void, away from the golden hiveship towards the planet below and the Horizon lurking beyond the cluster of Wraith ships. Red streams of light arced through space intercepted by blue ones from the Horizon. Suddenly, a hyperspace window opened, and the Horizon disappeared within it.

Behind me, other hyperspace windows opened like eyes and then closed as the Wraith battleships jumped into them. The last to go, like a flicker of regret, was my Wraith's ship.

I held on to the device, the glow in the slit fading. The heat dissipated. A deep, black veil came over me and I sunk into its chasm.

###

When I came to, my eyes opened upon the sight of a cluster of lightless hives, their forms visible only as the reflection of the moon glowing above a darkly red planet. Coming upon a hive in space, beholding their massive proportions and their size, it is always impressive and eerie, and a revelation of their absolute alien-ness. They inspired more than simple fear; it was the primeval fear of humans that went back to the dawn of time; the fear of being eaten alive by something unknown and unexplainable; and implacable. Coming upon these hives, however, I felt as if I was gazing into the ultimate chasm of one's existence. It felt like a hole inside me; a hole into which I could drop any time; the same hole that some called insanity. The sight of these hives was unsettling beyond the feeling of facing raw and ruthless power, of a mind incomprehensible to a human, and thus doubly dangerous and deadly; it was the usual feeling of inevitable death. These hives exuded something else with their dark and motionless presence. Malevolence of a different kind seemed to seep into space from these behemoths facing me.

All this crossed my mind in the instant I beheld the hives, in particular the middle one; the largest of them all, deeply black and lightless, so black that it seemed like a cutout in the void of space; it felt as if it was a blackhole. And my dart was unmistakably heading that way, speeding through space like a small atom attracted by a whole planet.

By the time a fully regained awareness of myself and what was around me, the dart was at the entrance of one of the hive's bays. The portals parted and the dart entered a black chasm, its length and width vaguely revealed by the pale light filtering through the bay doors opened towards the pale sun. All this time, I sat there helpless in the dart's cabin, clutched in the chair, holding the device in my lap, my hands clasped tightly around it.

I felt the dart settle on a floor I could not see, and as soon as it shuddered to a stop, the bay doors closed and the interior of the bay started to glow with a very pale red luminosity that was obviously more visible to a Wraith's sensitive eye. The hatch of the dart opened and I was hit by a shale of old, musty air. My eyes began to make out the walls rising around me to the ceiling; or rather what I suspected to have been a ceiling once. All there was now was a like a reverted chasm of broken shafts that seemed to go into infinity. The walls around me were in shreds and collapsed, hanging from ribbings of gnarled black matter, the red glow given off by a few panels that still retained their shape. It looked to me as if I was inside a desiccated whale, the flesh and skin turned to parchment fluttering and rustling in a wind generated by emptiness.

I knew at that moment, without a doubt, that I was inside one of the dying hives. It was not dead yet, or perhaps it had not completely decomposed in space; I could not tell. But what I could surmise—given the law of probabilities that a little dart ejected into space would end up in the midst of the very hives I inquired about—that this was not chance or coincidence. It appeared to me, that the Commander, or my Ship Wraith (I kept calling him 'my', I mused sardonically) had already taken the path to the graveyard of these hives and we were close enough for a dart to reach them. Darts also had a nerve center that was controlled by the Wraith and the hive. The question was: had this dart been drawn to this hive by whatever power was left in this enormous dying body, or had the Commander actually commanded this dart to arrive here.

I leaned towards the second. The why, that was another question.

I got off the dart, now my eyes used to the light and able to discern my surroundings. Ahead of me, leading to the far entrance to the main part of the hive—my sense of direction told me I was in the aft part of the ship—was a walkway cutting across the skeleton of the collapsed floor. The silence around me was utter; with the exception of the occasional rustle of a piece falling into the chasm below.

As for me… I took in a deep breath. I was in the dress the Commander gave me, a shimmering, luxurious confection of soft fabric and silver, torn in places from the flight to the dart and dusty with the ashes of this dying hive; a useless outfit that provided me neither protection nor comfort. I was unarmed, except for the device in my hand. I was alone, I was abandoned; and I could've killed for a glass of water and a rare steak with mushrooms. And I wanted my Wraith back—sharp teeth, slit, amber pupils, feeding hand and pale green skin; and for all I knew, with a wasp's sting where human males had their prized possession.

That last thought made me let out a giggle, after which I started to bawl without restraint. I was all alone, so might as well let it rip and all hang out. I blubbered all the way to the portal to the main part of the ship and continued to sob as I walked along the faintly glowing walls, barely a flicker, no more than a brittle skeleton with dried up, shredded walls. A faint smell filled the air. Had it been stronger, it would've been nauseating. As it was it was putting me off the thought of a steak with mushrooms.

As I reached a large chamber—one I recognized as leading to the hibernation pods on one side and the quarters of the worshippers on the other side, my sobbing was replaced by mounting anger, focused like a beam on Feng. It was he, and he alone who was the cause of where I was. Perhaps it made no sense; perhaps it had no logic, but that was where my anger aimed. It was helpless, desperate anger because I knew I could not act on it and could not change anything.

I kicked a column with all the force I could give it. My foot crushed the surface and dug into the brittle, amber like material. I had been most unsatisfying. So, I proceeded to punch more columns and kick them and then threw the device at the wall, while screaming at the top of my voice every foul word I knew and gathered through the gutters of my youth.

While I did this, and beginning to feel some of my backbone return, I was vaguely aware of the device rolling away. I stopped in the middle of a particularly profane pronouncement that involved highly improbable actions when I noticed that a device light started to flicker. I bounded to it, just as one of my feet broke the floor and got caught, sending me forward on my face. When I finally reached the infernal object, the light was still blinking, but it had a kind of somnolent, indolent feel about it.

"Well, Doctor Vries," I spoke to myself, my voice muffled by the hanging shreds, "you better figure this thing out." I cradled it in my arms and pondered where I could find some more light. "Even a genius like you—and you are a genius, as proven by the situation you're in—cannot do it by mental reverse osmosis and needs light."

The one place where I could find light was the worshippers quarters; although I was not keen at all to venture there. I shrugged. This hive was empty. All I would find would be human skeletons strewn inside the hive's skeleton.

I took some long, twisted corridors, which I could only describe as very creepy, and reached indeed the complex of cells and chambers where worshippers worked for the Wraith, the various gates broken and fallen. Somewhere, some place there had to be candles or some lamps. I had seen them with the worshippers in the Commander's hive. I entered a chamber that resembled the one where I had found the worshippers engaged in some ritual of worship. I looked around me and started. Deep in the far recesses, between columns that had collapsed unto themselves I saw several crouching figures.

"Hello!" I called absurdly.

The only answer I received was the rustling of something skidding across the floor. I jumped around, my heart in my mouth. All I saw was emptiness.

Slowly, cautious with each step, I approached the crouched shadows. I looked down on them and in the pale light I saw the vague outline of their dead, decomposing faces. I yelped and jumped back, my nose assailed with the sweet, cloying, gagging smell of death.

This was recent… Very recent. As I stepped back, my foot crushed into something that broke under my heel. A smell of bitter almonds reached me; blessedly covering the smell of death, but also warning me of my own, if I didn't get out of there—cyanide. I backed away even further. I had stepped into a bowl that had contained cyanide. The worshippers had killed themselves with cyanide.

This time I gagged and retched, delivering to the broken floor the little I had in my stomach. I touched the wall and realized that what I thought to be dried up sheets of the ship's skin, was actually still soft and pliable, like old silk.

I stirred into action. There had to be a command room that still had some instruments still functioning; there had to be systems on this hive that could be marginally brought back on line. I needed light and I need food and water.

I scoured the cells and chambers and found what I needed—fruit, slightly over ripe, or rotting if that was your pleasure, but food nevertheless; I found water. I gulped down the fruit and drank the water, wondering for a moment if they were not poisoned, but then dismissing the thought. The rotting fruit would probably upset my stomach, but I shrugged that away as well. The water was stale, but it was water.

"Idiot Wraith," I mumbled. At least they could do is to keep some refrigeration on board for their worshippers. Yeah, right.

Some of my energy recovered, I quickly left worshippers quarters, my sense of smell telling me that the group that I had seen was not the only one that had chosen to die with the hive. The thought of how recent this must have been got tucked away in one of the compartments of the scientific side of my brain.

I rushed through the corridors and maze of columns that was a hive, in the general direction of where the core of the hive was, knowing that all roads in a hive ship led to the command room and to the Queen's chamber. My step slowed down at the last thought. A Queen… But no, the Queen definitely had to be dead; or she had left this hive; or never been on it. And where were the Wraith? My step slowed down even more. The device blinked lazily. What was it doing? Why did it suddenly start to blink? Was it transmitting something somewhere? Was it detecting something? Was it arming?

I walked through the halls, chambers and corridors, keeping my face in the direction I knew the command room would be, on the upper levels. I took paths winding upwards and something that looked like staircases, the steps broken. As I approached the core, there seemed to be less damage; but damage nevertheless.

I stopped and held my breath. For just a solitary moment I felt as if something or someone was following me; watching me. I looked around the wide, long chamber that led to the command room. It was silent and barely lit by a distant panel that glowed red. I started as a soft shudder rippled under my feet. I took a few steps forward and the feeling that something was walking alongside with me returned. I swerved around a caught a translucent blue tendril reach for me. But it was slow, tentative and retracted as I took a step away. I thought I heard a whisper, but that too passed.

I turned on my heels and ran down the long chamber, crashed through the brittle lattice of a gate and rushed into the control room. I stopped startled, petrified at the sight that met me. Several Wraith were strewn on the floor, one that was obviously the commander, draped over the command console; except that instead of being face down, he was face up, bent over, his arms reaching up. I looked down on a Wraith at my feet—his face had deep cuts, blood dried in the gashes. His hands were poised over his face, the blades of his finger guards caked in blood. I shirked from the sight and a felt my gut wrenched again, even more than it had at the sight of the worshippers. I looked at the other Wraith, especially at the commander. His face was also cut deeply, as if he had sustained a frenzied attack. Except, the realization came to me, the frenzied attack had been at his own hand.

Down deep I began to understand what had happened on this hive. Down deep I began to understand that it had been my Wraith, the Commander who had sent me here, and it had not been the hive that had attracted the dart. My heart became small in my chest with fright and sorrow. I never knew that a heart could hurt; but it did.

I froze. The door behind me wooshed and closed. Suddenly, I felt that presence again. But now it was clearly malevolent, threatening and deadly; and very angry. It felt insane. Whatever was insane in this hive, I did not want to face.

In panic, I called my Wraith's name—the golds and blues, the scents and the perfumes, the amber and the veils of what was his name. The malevolent threat seemed to falter a bit. I sensed in my mind the swirls of a different color than that of the Commander. It was purple and green, very pale and slow. There was another scent that I could not describe.

A Ship Wraith! There was a Ship Wraith on this hive!

Instinctively, without forethought, I ran out of the command room and drawn by an interior beacon only some deep element in me could detect, I homed in on the Queen's chamber. I saw it ahead of me, the throne set high, looking like a cradling hand; a feeding hand.

The floor tilted under me, it cracked and broke, trying to stop me from reaching it. The Queen was sprawled on it. I reached the steps, climbed them as they undulated under me, shoved her aside "Pardon me…" and sat on the throne, my right hand firmly placed on the arm, my open palm in the depression in the shape of a hand.

The floor and walls stopped moving; if they had ever moved. I felt a tingling in my palm and I knew that through that spot, I was touching the whole hive and the Ship Wraith. He was dying; and he was in agony.

I took in a deep breath as I realized I was clutching the device in my left hand as if it was a weapon of defense. I steadied myself. I could not show fear or distress. I tried to feel calm; I tried to sooth as I quietly caressed the chair's arm with my right hand. Breathe in… breathe out… At the same time I could feel the Ship Wraith's hissed, labored breath, the beating of his heart.

"You are in pain," I whispered.

"You know the name of a Wraith," I heard his voice vibrate through me. It was indeed more a hiss of pain than of speech. "Yet, you are not a Queen. But, you can speak to me… You are not a Wraith… Yet… Yet you have the touch of one…"

"It's complicated," I replied. A very Wraith answer.

"You will do. The answers can come later." I felt the chair and the presence surround me, caress me, draw me, want me and beg me. There was a shiver down my spine, one of uninvited pleasure.

The Ship Wraith wanted a Queen… Even an illusion of a Queen.

I stiffened. NO! my mind commanded.

The caress retreated suddenly. The air around me became morose, resigned and despondent.

"You are dying," I said.

"I am weakened…" I felt as if the Ship Wraith wanted to roar in frustration but did not have the strength. He whispered: "I am dying long before my time. My Queen died in a way no Queen should die. It was not my time to die." His mind seemed to wander. I sensed that perhaps he had become unbalanced; perhaps insane. "What are you? One of the Early Ones?"

Early One? "Perhaps…" I obfuscated. "What do you know of the Early Ones?" I pretended to challenge his knowledge to draw an answer.

There was a rumble of contempt back at me. "You have that Ancient Gene of the first Wraith; of those barely Wraith but no longer fully human. None of you should exist anymore."

"It's complicated," I repeated. "Tell me how did you come to be like this?"

But his mind wandered. "You are one of the Ancients; one of the Ancients that went their own way to find the path to Ascension."

I opened my mouth to protest that I was not an Ancient, having detected the loathing in his voice. But I wondered if it was worse to be an Ancient, and an Early One, as he called them, or just mere human with some funny DNA. On the other hand… I did have the DNA… How it got there… well… it was complicated. So, I kept silent.

"Your kind really liked to tinker and experiment." His voice was mocking, jeering. "Everything and everyone was a subject; human, insect, plant. You were driven by this obsession to Ascension and immortality. You were so obsessed and so arrogant and so mad that you started to mutate your DNA with the DNA from long lived creatures you found in the Pegasus.—"

"—the Iratus bug," I echoed.

"The Queen of the Iratus. She lives for tens of thousands of years while all die around her. But, it got away from you, didn't it? You WERE the first Wraith, although you still called yourselves Ancients. But you were an experiment gone very wrong. Your precious brethren exiled and abandoned in the Pegasus. You became Wraith. We rose and destroyed you and then the Ancients. How was it to be destroyed by your own creation you disdained? How did you survive?"

"Were you there?"

The Ship Wraith seemed to catch his breath. "I am sure you know me. I was well known by your kind." I felt the ship vibrate. "And now, with my last breath, perhaps I can die with honor afterall, as a Ship Wraith should—I've captured in my net—" he chuckled. "Like an Iratus catches prey…" He seemed to find this amusing because he laughed some more, the laugh cracked and wrecked with pain. "—I captured an Early One, and I will die as I have risen in power so many millennia ago: I'll kill an Early One; a failed Ancient."

I said quickly, having made my decision that being human might be better; a Wraith earned no honor points by killing a human. "I am not an Ancient, or an Early One as you call them. I have the gene, but I am not one of them."

There was a long silence now. "You are not one of those who created us to Ascend but failed?" I felt the Wraith probing. There was something tactile in the air around me. Then, the hate I felt abated. It was replaced by curiosity.

The feeling of demented pain was still there. "Did they ascend?" I asked.

I heard a cracked laugh. "They were fools. They twisted and tormented the creatures of this galaxy, they created and killed, all for their precious ascension. At the end, they just died like the humans they were. Nobody ascended. There is no ascension."

I sighed. "I am glad to hear that." I sincerely meant it. "They must've had a bit of a shock when they kicked the bucket and found themselves nowhere. Except, unfortunately, they became aware of nothing. When you're dead, you don't even know you're dead. Scientific fact. You have no consciousness."

"Whatever you are… you're not stupid."

Well, now THAT was a compliment.

"But you still did not tell me what happened."

"It does not concern you, human."

"Perhaps it does." I had my suspicions. I held up the device. "Do you know what this is?"

There was silence for a while. Then suddenly the Ship Wraith howled.

I steadied myself not to display fear. I started to hum a song in my mind; the old trick that so impressed the Commander. I found my bargaining chip. "If it is this device that cause this, then perhaps we can forge an alliance between you and I. Perhaps I do have something to offer."

"For what in return?" the answer bounced back to me. "And what can you offer, human?"

"No need to be insulting," I hurled back. "What I can get in return depends on the answer to some questions."

"It's your survival," he mocked. "You cling to your miserable life."

"Well, then, let's put it this way—my miserable life for your miserable death." I lifted higher the device that was no flickering a little faster. "Is it this device that did this to you?"

I felt the frustration and the despair pulse around me. "A Ship Wraith is meant to die in battle. But to be attacked like this and left to die in slow agony, lingering in space like an old human… The dishonor of that is the agony. Not the pain, not the insanity of my Queen and Wraith who cut their own faces in madness… It's this lingering… this slow death without being able to fight. I am meant to die in battle!"

"I agree. This is not death in battle; this is not a war with honor. This is what we humans call a biological weapon. It also dishonors those who use it, in my world."

The Ship Wraith said nothing. But I could feel his spasms of pain. "Are you in great pain?"

Again no answer. But he was in pain.

"Perhaps," I said after a moment, passing my right hand over the arm of the chair, "you and I have a common goal."

"I am dying."

"Yes, undeniably so. The alliance might not give you life."

"I am not interested in life. I've had a very long life."

"But you're interested in dying fighting the enemy who did this to you and your Queen."

"They were human…"

"I know. A disgrace among humans."

I waited.

He spoke at long last. "Tell me of the alliance you propose."

"But first, I have some questions."

There was a sullen silence.

"Answering those questions is the first step of the alliance," I said. "I must ensure that you can hold your side of the alliance."

"I'll spare your life. That's my side."

"Not good enough." I twirled the device. What I wasn't saying, of course, was that I did not even know how to turn this thing on. Or that I needcd to figure it out. But I did say: "I want to modify this device for the alliance."

"Ah…" he hummed.

"If you want a quick death and revenge." I stood up.

"Only a Queen can forge an alliance with a Ship Wraith."

"This is are not normal times and circumstances. We adapt. It will be done without a Queen." I felt my breath get shallow. I took may chance. I had to. "I am the Queen of a hive. My Ancient gene and the Wraith in me has created two Queens." I brought the name of my Wraith to mind.

"Yessss…" the Ship Wraith hissed. "You know the name of the Wraith—"

"A Wraith who is now my Ship Wraith." I added.

"A Ship Wraith chose YOU for a Queen?"

I had a small mental frown—I had thought that a Queen chose the Ship Wraith…

That unguarded moment allowed the Ship Wraith to read my thoughts. The answer was a hissed laugh. "YOU chose HIM? What kind of trick is this?" He paused. "What kind of trick did he play on you?" He was now laughing in earnest.

"He asked me to accept to be his Queen." Not exactly true… a bit of a stretch… a huge stretch. What DID he ask me?

"He deceived you. It is a Ship Wraith who chooses the Queen. He chose you but he deceived you into thinking that you had chose him." There was a pause. "Did you name the Ship Wraith?"

"No…"

The Ship Wraith chuckled. "Ah… Indeed." And then he said: "I accept your proposal of an alliance. Ask me your questions." One of those long silences that I began to realize was caused by onslaught of pain followed. "You're a travesty of a Queen," he said softly. "But a Queen nevertheless with the Ancient gene of a Queen."

I tilted my head. "I am gratified that you call me that. But," I said stiffly, "I am not getting into any swimming pools!"

There was something of a snort.

So, now I was the Queen of this Ship Wraith and this hive full of dead bodies, the stench of death and decay.

"Come," he said. "We must talk face to face. So to speak…"

I walked down the steps of the throne and he guided me where he was. I felt him all around me, circling me like a soft veil. I could not tell whether the gentleness of that touch was because this Wraith was weak and dying, or because that was the way of a Ship Wraith. The passages and hallways I was passing were becoming less wrecked and somehow more luminous. The floor under my foot was feeling more secure and that rustle, like a death rattle, had faded. I felt as if the whole structure was examining me, observing and assessing.

I was right. As I entered a circular hall glowing in a faded blue light, I heard the Ship Wraith hum, his voice coming from the dome above, as if he was up there, like a painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. "You are quite a prize…" That little purr of the Wraith followed. I knew that purr well. My Wraith used that purr when he was trying to be particularly charming; if one could apply that word to a Wraith.

On second thought they could be charming. Not charming enough for you swimming pool, I rumbled mentally, repeating myself.

He read my mind and this time he acknowledged my swimming pool fixation. "Oh, no swimming pool for you…" I felt his touch again, sinuous, all around me, spiraling down me. "My Queen."

"I'm sure I'm not a match to one of your real Queens," I said, quickly dismissing myself, the purr in his voice having intensified. _Aren't you supposed to be in pain, or something?_

I stopped at the entrance of a long columned corridor. Suddenly, the rather close quarters worried me. I felt as if he was lurking behind each column and that he would trap me in there with his purr and his touch that, I had to admit, was not unpleasant, while quite unwelcome at a logical, cool headed, thinking level.

He interrupted my musing. "What makes you think that we like to mate with our Queens?"

"You don't" I stepped into the corridor and the columns seemed to glow a bit more. They looked as if they were grinning at me.

"It is simply part of the operation of a hive," he answered, sounding very clinical. "It is done for the good of the Wraith. But it is a most disconcerting business. That's why we created the pools." He chuckled. "Our Queens are not pleasant company. And we get no pleasure. Satisfaction, yes; but not pleasure, as you would define it."

"Then how do you get… pleasure?" As I would define it.

"We have our ways… We are a patient race. We can turn it off, as you humans would say; not like you humans, forever in heat. The Queens are like that too." He sounded disgusted.

"You're patient for what?" I should've dropped the subject, but I felt that as long as I chattered, walking through that columned hallway, trying to touch nothing and making sure that my long skirt was off the floor, I would keep him occupied enough—he did seem to like talking—for him not to proceed to what I piously hoped was not what I thought it would be.

"Oh, I am sure you suspect. You're quite clever."

Yes, I was. And I wanted to assure myself. So I said, putting on a puzzled voice: "I thought you didn't… uh… you know… do it with humans!" I blurted out, feeling increasingly uneasy, clutching the device. How did I always end up, it seemed, in such discussions with a Wraith? A MALE Wraith?

"We don't," came the haughty answer. "That would be an abomination."

Thank God for small mercies.

An abomination? I reacted. Excuse me!

"I think it's time," I rumbled, "you, Wraith, get off your high Iratus bug, down in the crap with the rest of Pegasus."

"We what?"

I decided that I protested too much… I clamped my jaws. The Wraith were not stupid, by far; they were very keen eyed and very discerning; even if they professed disdain and limited knowledge of humans. They had, after all, been manipulating and controlling humans for millennia. They knew humans very well, although perhaps not at an intellectual level.

And this Ship Wraith knew a lot more about humans than I would imagine at first.

"To satisfy your curiosity and confirm your suspicions—" the Ship Wraith said as I took a fork in the columned corridor. "We 'do it' as you say, only with a one that has the Ancient gene; a special ancient gene; the rarest of them. It is very attractive and mating with such a one very pleasant and satisfying."

Was he making this up? Oh, he was, I was sure. No male, even if Wraith, would wait for millennia for one, solitary female to get what they wanted; not unless they truly had very massive switch; the kind that could turn off all the lights in Las Vegas in the blink of an eye... Unless I was not that unique.

He read my mind, of course. "We haven't seen one in millennia," he said as I saw a glow of blue light at the end of the corridor. "Not until now." He purred around me. He seemed to have forgotten his agony and pain. "I thought that the whispers about a one such as you were just worshippers gabbing foolishly, like the fools they are…"

Oh, great. Whether he was making up stories or not, the face was that I was attracting male Wraith like a female moth bathed in pheromones in the middle of the night.

I stopped in front of the blue opening. I didn't want to walk through. I was running out of smart a** arguments. So, I threw down the scientific, clinical one. "Well, you'll have to hold that thought. In spite of an abundance of moth pheromones, I am not equipped for Wraith." Shot in the dark…

"Oh, you are…"

I thought of the wasp sting again and a felt a small smile quirk the corner of my mouth. "Well then, you're not equipped for me."

"Oh, I am…"

I wasn't going there. "Do you want to die killing your enemy or making a fool of yourself with a human with funny DNA?" I asked roughly. Or, I'll hit you with this metal thing in my hand over the head.

"You win… for now," I heard him hum, appeasing.

I walked into the blue light.

I found him in the very core of the hive, a barely visible form, gaunt and bent, his face barely more than the bones of his skull, his long hair disheveled, his eyes maddened by the pain of the dying hive. As I walked in thought, he straightened up on his bench and his eyes focused on me. Citrine yellow eyes. And he threw me a very predatory look.

I looked at him carefully and he sat there, submitting himself to my gaze with something of a smirk on his face. He was indeed a magnificent Wraith. As I seemed to have developed a new appreciation for the beauty of Wraith, I decided that he would be, at his full power and health, even more gorgeous than the Commander. I looked more carefully. His features, long and sharp, somehow seemed to be less Wraith; but also less human, and more like a preying mantis. And it struck me, more from instinct than knowledge. "You are one of the Early Ones!"

"I am very ancient, yes," he purred. "Not and Early One, though. I am from the first generation of those who called themselves the First. I am one of the ones who destroyed the Early Ones and then defeated the Ancients."

I looked at his gaunt form, at his thinned face and his features wreaked by pain and slow agony. He had strength for little; may be just a last breath to die with what the Wraith called honor. Thus I saw what could've happened to my Wraith with amber eyes had the device gone off. And it was then and there that I finally admitted to myself how much I loved that Wraith. Yes, loved. Stupidly, I started to hum a song from an old Viennese operetta—Die Csardasfuerstin-my grand mother used to sing that had one lilting refrain I always found funny—'liebe, dumme liebe'. Love, dumb, stupid love. It was then and there that I knew what I would do for the Wraith with amber eyes.

I bowed my head to the dying Ship Wraith in greeting.

He answered in kind and waved his hand at a bench.

"Sit! Let us begin our alliance."

I sat on the bench directly across from the Ship Wraith and took the moment to look at him more carefully. He was fading, the edges of his form melting into the darkly purple light around him. His left hand was only a vague outline, but his right hand still glowed, clawed on the arm of his chair. His face however, was strangely alive with pain and his eyes shifted back and forth from feline shimmer to dull darkness.

I asked quite clinically: "Is the ship around you dying first, killing you, or it is you who is dying first, killing the ship?"

His darkly yellow eyes shifted on me. "I die last." He let out a ragged breath and I could sense the ship around me moan. "This is how a Ship Wraith dies or is killed—the hive is destroyed around him."

"Can you be killed directly?"

The Ship Wraith's eyes closed slowly and when they opened the gleam in them was suspicious and feral; and amused. "Only by another Ship Wraith still in his pre-ship form if he wants to usurp the hive from me. He needs to have the DNA of a Ship Wraith to manipulate the hiveship."

"Ah…" I pondered watching him shift in his seat. He was in pain; constant pain, all the dying nerves of the organism around him transmitting their pain to his core. I sighed, feeling chilled—as if dying of gangrened limbs. A nasty way to go. "If you are killed by another Ship Wraith, would he then remove you, or detach you from the ship and insert himself?"

"Mmmmm…" he hummed. "It is tricky. The ship could die and collapse, the usurping Ship Wraith could die before the ship could sustain him; the Ship Wraith's genes could hide a radical that kills the ship."

"Would you have to be dead to be removed?"

The Ship Wraith hummed. "He cannot touch me unless I am dead." He growled.

"Could you detach yourself while still alive and survive?"

His gaze became suspicious again. "What are you hatching in that half human mind of yours?"

Half? I wanted to ask, but did not want to distract him. "I am only asking as a scientist."

He made something of a disparaging noise. "It could be done, by another Ship Wraith, if they have just the right gene radical compatible with mine to release me. Again, very tricky and it has to be just right." He grinned. "It would have to be a Ship Wraith that I created with a Queen."

"You would revert to your former self?"

"Very tricky." He growled in the back of his throat. "I told you—why would a Ship Wraith want to be reduced back to what he was, subject to some Queen?" He glared at me. "Why do you interest yourself in this?"

"To find a way to save your life."

"You want to save MY life?" He started to laugh, a spine chilling laugh. "You are an interesting one."

"I was told by a worshipper that I think like a Wraith."

He was silent for a bit. "I am sure you've got your reasons," he mused.

Suddenly, he doubled up and moaned and then let out a scream of anguish. I leaped up from my seat and instinctively put my hand on his still visible feeding hand and caressed it before I could stop myself.

He straightened up and quieted, his eyes on my caressing hand. Softly he withdrew his hand from under mine. "Don't waste your breath, human," he snarled. But there was no menace in that snarl; only some kind of annoyance. "You should worry more about the Ship Wraith who has sent you here."

I retreated. His hand was cold, like ice. He could've grabbed me and fed on me. If a Ship Wraith fed anymore. He read my thoughts because he turned up his palm. In its middle, the feeding slit was open and pulsating, its edges red and gorged. "That was a foolish thing to do," he said.

"What do you know of my Ship Wraith?" I asked, trying to suppress the sudden fear in me.

He lowered his hand and placed it on his thigh, gripping and relaxing, as if trying to stay the sudden surge of the urge to feed on me.

"You called his name. I know who he is. A very powerful Wraith, indeed."

"Do Ship Wraith communicate?"

"Of course we do! We are the most intelligent and powerful of the Wraith. We have powers beyond the ordinary Wraith." He now displayed what we humans would call blue blood arrogance and haughtiness.

"Is he hurt?" I asked, my heart small.

"Yes," he said blandly.

"Not by one of these?" I flinched, pointing at the device at my feet.

"No. Not by one of those. Fortunately."

Of course not… I have the device.

"There could be another one," the Ship Wraith answered my thought.

"How badly?" I asked with a small voice. I knew that there had been some damaged as I ran off the hiveship. But… "Very bad?" I asked, my voice breaking and my heart turning cold. No… No… I tried to talk myself along. You don't care. Why would you? It's a Wraith. Don't be a fool. Don't be a fool…

"The ship is badly hurt around him. He is in danger."

I added and subtracted in my mind all the facts and all the extrapolations of a scientist. He was watching me and I knew that he was in my mind, reading me. I let him, as I ran through the branching logic of my plan. I looked up at him. He nodded.

"You will give me the human who sent that device into my hiveship?" he asked.

"Yes." I added. "In my own fashion. I will not deliver him to you directly; but you will have him."

He tilted his head. "You want him dead also…"

"I want him to learn a lesson. If it results in his death, that will be his doing."

"You do have the logic of a Wraith," he said thoughtfully.

"Time is of the essence."

"No need to tell me."

"We need some Wraith to attend you."

"I don't have any, as you know. And if you do not have any Wraith loyal to you—a human! Pfffff… Then it's over."

"I do have Wraith loyal to me," I countered. "If you indeed can communicate with my Ship Wraith."

He grinned. "Oh, I can." And anticipating me, he added: "If you can command the loyalty of a Wraith who has the gene radicals that match mine." He blinked slowly, like a preying mantis; if preying mantises blinked… I shooed the thought away.

"Do I?" I asked, wondering where he was leading. I calculated again. "The Queen I produced had also the genes of my Ship Wraith—"

"Yes, I know that."

"It is possible that she had also been given the Ship Wraith gene. She created two Wraiths—two faced Wraiths, and it is possible that she passed those genes to at least one of them if not both."

"It doesn't work that way," he dismissed me with a contemptuous hum. "It has to come from a Ship Wraith based on the alliance terms between the Wraith and the Queen. Also, it needs to be diversified, refreshed with the DNA of an unrelated Ship Wraith."

I let out a frustrated sigh. "Nothing works simple in your world!"

"I know the Wraiths you speak of. One of them does have the Ship Wraith radical." He smiled. "All is not lost in your plan, Elena Vries."

He knew my name. I let it pass. "You told me, though, that for it to work it has to be compatible with DNA radical."

"Like a key in a lock."

"What are the chances of that?"

"Very small. Actually almost none. In reality—absolutely none." He grinned. "Unless I was the mating Ship Wraith."

I looked up at him. He had a wolfishly amused look on his face. He chuckled. This was a Wraith that liked to laugh a lot… "Why do you think you ended up here? Your Ship Wraith Queen mated with me."

"Ah…" There's always a surprise with a Wraith. "I guess I'm your mother in law…"

He snorted.

"Both of them have been created with you?" I echoed, making sure I had heard right.

He leaned forward. "She used the mating pool of my hive well and liked it so well, she stayed for the second."

"One heir and one to spare," I babbled, trying to twist my mind around this new piece of information. "They both have the gene?"

He grinned at me. "My mating pool is famous among the Queens." He leaned even further towards me. I could feel him physically now, turning around me, touching me. I became very still. "You are curious, I know. You are curious about many things, and like all humans, you're fixated on the mating part of things. I've seen female worshipers so crazed by it, so delirious that they would even go for a male Wraith, even though they feared us and we would just feed on them with nothing in return." He paused. "Not since we broke the yoke of the Ancients have we given a human our gift." His eyes gleamed. "I knew the Ancients well. Very well." He was rambling; perhaps.

I stiffened.

"You do wonder, don't you?" he purred. "You wonder about me and the Ancients. I was much liked by a certain Ancient female. Very much. They liked Wraith at first. It was a little… what do you call it? I fad. A perversity." He watched me. I tried to block any reaction. "You wonder about the mating pool, I know." He straightened up and said, his voice commanding. "As part of our alliance-" He gave me what was, much to my dismay and discomfort, a very male look. "I offer an exchange of scientific information and experimentation of my pools. To satisfy our curiosity."

"You have more than one," I stammered just of a sudden, half raised from my seat, ready to bolt, although I was quite aware that it would be futile, were this Wraith truly bent on tossing me in his pool. For scientific curiosity.

"Oh, yes, I do."

"I never thought of the Wraith as a race given to curiosity," I stated, trying to straighten my voice.

"Inquisitive, surely."

"I thought humans disgusted you!" I threw back while physically I backed up.

He grinned and the look in his eyes became even more male, if such a thing was possible. "Yes…" he drawled and purred. My God, he purred! "But if your Wraith mated with you…"

"We did not!"

"Don't be such an ignorant human! Even you should understand the concept of how that Queen was created." He snorted. "So, if the head of one of the most powerful Wraith factions in the galaxy, a Ship Wraith with an armada of hives took you, then there must be something very special about you." He scanned me with his gaze. "Ah, I am curious indeed. For all my long life, I've found mating with the Wraith Queens a bothersome chore. Not since that Ancient female have I thought of it as anything else than a duty I must endure."

"What wrong with the Wraith Queens?" I protested rather desperately. "They're quite… quite… buxom and… and… lusty." My voice squeaked a little.

He let out a low snarl of displeasure. "They are demanding, noisy and… and… whine a lot and… and…"

I've never known a Wraith lost for words; but then they were not very good at describing their so called emotions and characteristics in human terms; and that is what he was attempting. I helped: "You mean they are all about themselves."

He looked long at me: "No Wraith Queen would ever touch my hand to take away my pain." His voice was strangely melodious.

Suddenly he let out a growl and clutched the chair. He could hardly breathe. Then he quieted down. Then he laughed. A very amused laugh. "Just joking…" His voice was weak. "I have no energy and much life. My pools are dry and destroyed." He snarled viciously. "For that alone, Elena Vries, I want that man you call Feng to die slowly. Make a Runner out of him, painfully—"

"He would not survive five minutes as a runner," I said with contempt; and thought—oh, good! Male Wraith are just as enamored of their 'jewels' as human males…

"You're in pain," I said softly.

He hissed at me and snarled. "I'm going to be dead if you keep asking me stupid questions and don't start to act."

"Can you summon my two… uh… grandsons and some warriors… and some very impressive looking Wraiths?"

"Hmmm…" he hummed. "I shall communicate with your Wraith. He's nearby."

"He's nearby? Why?" I asked suspiciously, with a sick feeling in my heart.

He looked at me narrowly. "The wounds of his ship are serious." He leaned back in his chair. "He asks what else you need?"

Oh… "You've already communicated?"

"Of course," he answered with Wraith contempt and typical satisfaction for having surprised me, a slow and ignorant human.

"He answered?" I whispered and a warm feeling entered my heart. He answered…

"What else do you need?"

I looked down on myself. "An impressive dress, some food and drink."

The Ship Wraith nodded.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

One could not tell time on a hive; especially this hive that was dying. Time seemed suspended; perhaps that is why I thought that merely minutes had passed before a Wraith transport alighted in the dart bay and the doors to the Queen's chamber opened. My two Wraiths—Siegfried and Lothar; which was which I had no idea—marched… no, strided… no. Strutted… No. Swaggered in. Yes, swaggered. I absorbed their image and I felt proud—my genes sure created some good looking Wraiths!

They were tall; even taller than I recalled. Perhaps they were still growing. Their hair was like silk, fantastically braided, falling in long sheets down the front and back. Their outfits were of silver black leather, the hem swirling.

Ah, yes. I had done well. Very well.

Behind them came a contingency of warriors and a couple of faced Wraith, looking just as impressive. The rear was brought up by two female worshipers, their head bent, carrying clothes and food.

Siegfried—the one on the right, although I had no idea whether it was the one I originally named so—took a step ahead and stopped in front of me. He inclined his head in greeting and said, with a supremely cold voice: "We were instructed to come here."

No species does stone face as well as a Wraith. And this one did it better than any. His eyes were like two blue stones, icy and looking through me.

I glanced at Lothar, the one on the left. His face was equally supremely uninterested. However, his eyes observed me like a very curious cat.

"Thank you for coming," I said. "I am gratified by your filial piety." I wondered if my sarcasm registered. "I am looking forward to your undivided loyalty."

"For how long?" Siegfried asked, definite disdain in his voice.

"For as long as you carry my DNA. One hesitation on your part, and I'll… whump your elegant butts until you scream for mercy."

They both looked at me as if I were some kind of strange creature they had never seen before, or heard of among the species of the Pegasus or elsewhere. They looked as if they were having some kind of a very uncomfortable epiphany.

"To the bridge," I commanded, ignoring the little snarl rising from the two of them. But they followed me, nevertheless, stiff necked and stony faced.

I stood at the bridge console, the two flanking me and said:

"Dial Atlantis, my sons!"

The Ship Wraith chuckled.

###

As I hoped, and knew it would be, it was Colonel Santos who came through the gate of the planet. As it was the case with all the gates raised by the Ancients, this one was in the middle of an open field in what appeared to be another Ancient terraformed planet. I sighed at the boredom of the same trees, grasses and rather startling lack of wild life.

My warriors—did I say 'my'?—stood at the edges of the thicket; there was no purpose in concealing them—Atlantis had life detectors. The faced Wraith stood behind me. If Feng planned betrayal, it would not be now; Santos was military and was not under the command of the Atlantis leadership. I knew him as an honorable man who would not play the game of betrayal. Besides, he did not like Feng.

However, there was always the possibility—

In any case, it was my point to feed Feng's obsessions and fears; and ambitions; or rather, as someone once said, 'p*ss him out of his hole.'

The rest, was Feng's choice and the dying Ship Wraith's move.

My choice? To give the Ship Wraith—or Ghost Wraith as I started to call him—the chance to die with honor; in this case, make his killer pay. My real choice, of course—

But, it was not time to think of that.

Colonel Santos stepped out of the liquid film between the planet and the wormhole, and stopped with a start, his eyebrows going up. The Marines behind him raised their weapon.

"Lower your weapons!" I called out. That command was for both humans and Wraith behind me. "Colonel Santos! I am so glad it is you!" I crossed the glade with my hand held out to him.

He saluted and then shook my hand. And then—not sure who initiated it—we gave each other a hug of two camarades who have met up again. "Sorry for the Wraith," I said. "Just in case it was Feng charging through there." I grinned. "Although, you could have some cloaked puddle jumpers."

For a moment, as Santos started to grin at my statement, I considered how smooth and velvety I have become in concealing and masking my real purpose. Although, I was genuinely happy to see Santos, and none of the words I spoke were lies, even though there was mendacity behind them.

He chuckled. "I am quite aware, Doctor Vries, that you chose this planet and this gate to ensure that no puddle jumper could approach any other way but through this gate."

I inclined my head in theatrical humble acknowledgement of his perspicacity. "It also ensured that Feng would not come," I said.

"I thought you wanted to see him, though."

"Are you transmitting to Atlantis as we speak."

Santos looked hurt. "No."

The blue liquidy film behind him disappeared, replaced by the view of the line of trees behind the gate. Another boring view…

"I have become suspicious. But not of you," I added quickly. "I wanted to talk to you first; as a member of the IAC to the military. He has no place in this conversation."

We walked together for a little distance. We stirred a few insects in our wake, that rose spiraling up to the sky.

"How is Doctor Bernarde?" I asked.

"Unhappy."

"I'd hoped he would come."

"Feng was having his usual decision making abdominal pains."

"Oh?"

"Whenever he needs to make a decision he runs to the restroom at least four times."

The image was more disgusting than I cared to imagine. But, I followed up on it. "How many times did he go the bathroom before he launched his new weapon?"

Santos was quiet for a moment. "That information is submerged in the dark little corners Feng populates in his real existence."

It was my turn to raise my eyebrows. Santos was not given to flowery statements; he must've thought about this one in the small hours of the night.

"Shall we sit?" I said.

We both sat on a downed log, He cast a long look at the Wraiths.

"Some of them are my biological grandsons, you know."

"Impressive," he stated. "And the Queen?"

"Two Queens, as it turns out. They were killed." Unexpectedly, that statement felt like a pincer on my heart. "They tried to kill me. As a matter of fact, that is what Feng was counting on. He delivered me to the Wraith; what he didn't know was that the Commander was really behind all the false negotiations with Feng."

Santos shook his head in what looked to be dismay, surprise, confusion and anger. He raised his hand. "This is too complicated, as is all things with Wraith. But you are alive."

"Thanks to the Wraith, not to Atlantis."

He turned pale. "I had no hand in whatever this is. I know nothing of it. But, you suspected and told me nothing."

"I didn't want you to have to disobey orders."

"I have no orders other than to protect Atlantis," he hissed.

I let out my breath. I had him where I wanted. Again, I had a moment of amazement how without the slightest twitch of conscience I was carrying through with my little plot. Of course, I meant Santos no harm; and none would come to him. The Wraith had agreed on that. What else they had agreed on, that remained to be seen.

"How is the Commander?" Santos asked and there was something unhappy in his tone.

Of course. The shots and the device had been fired from his ship. He had obeyed that order.

I looked at him trying to keep suspicion out of my eyes. Atlantis, the humans in general, Feng in particular did not know about the existence of Ship Wraiths. I would have to guess that the Ancients did not know of them either; otherwise it would have been in their data banks.

I was not about to reveal it. Or many other things.

"The last attack was well aimed, but not entirely successful."

He looked at me long. "Was that… your ship? Feng's data showed that it was a hibernating ship."

I calculated quickly. "And you agreed to attack a hibernating ship? Against the terms of the alliance?"

"The intelligence Doctor Feng provided was that it was not an alliance hive, but one that has participated in your… uh… kidnap."

And now we spin the web. "First of all, I was not kidnapped, as I already said. I was used in exchange for the address of the hibernating ships. Complicated, trust me. Bottom line, the Queen wanted me dead because of my genes, and she got Feng to deliver me to her with the promise of the address of the hibernating hives; and by the way, it would've been the alliance hibernating hives. Unfortunately, the Queen intended to give him the address because she had her own little plan hatched; or she thought so. At the end, it had been the Commander who had had everyone twisted in his web." I smiled. "Never negotiate with a Wraith naked."

"Son of a bitch…" He let out his breath.

I assumed he meant Feng. "Indeed."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose; a gesture I had come to recognize as one of discomfiture.

"What do you know about the device he had you convey into the hive? I was impressed how you got past the Wraith jamming."

He kept rubbing the bridge of his nose. "We damaged the ship in the right spots, I guess. And by device, you mean… what?"

"I don't mean a bomb, be it nuclear."

He stopped rubbing the bridge of his nose. Now he was rubbing his lower lip. Then he dropped his hand. "What do you mean?"

"You really don't know?"

"It's an enhanced bomb Doctor Feng worked on."

Bingo. I went in for the kill. "He lied to you. It's what I would classify as a biological weapon. Since when are Earth forces under the umbrella of the US and the UN and the IAC allowed to use biological weapons, even if it is another galaxy? Our protocol is not to wipe out entire species. I seem to have some vague recollection that the Hague tribunal takes a very dim view of it. And I think they could be persuaded to extend their distaste for biological weapons and ethnic cleansing to species cleansing."

He looked pale. And even angrier. "Explain."

"It attacks the Wraith nerve system. It's like nerve gas without the gas. Rings a bell?"

Santos was taking deep breaths. I could just about hear the obscenities addressed at Feng.

"I'll show you the results," I said. "And the trouble is, it's slow. Very slow. Essentially the Wraith kill themselves. Not a very Wraith thing to do. Feng is engaging in biological genocide."

"Who knows about it?" he hissed.

"I think he is the only one who knows. What his purpose is, I don't know."

"He hates the Wraith."

"Does he? Or are they his excuse?"

"Excuse for what?"

"Shall we find out?"

Santos stood up. "I am not particularly concerned about the Wraith." He grinned grimly. "As a member of the IAC, you are higher than he his on the chain of command. So, I take instructions from you."

"Bring him to the hive."

He looked me in the eyes. "Very well." But there was no enthusiasm in his voice. "He thinks you're a traitor." He moved to the gate.

"A traitor to what?" I scoffed. "Atlantis? It's not a state and I haven't sworn allegiance to anyone and anything. I would be a traitor if I send the Wraith to Earth. But I am keeping them happy here, just like my garden ants." I grinned. "Let them be in the garden so that they don't come in the house." How glib…

He dialed the gate- not Atlantis, but an interemediary planet (as if I didn't know the address; probably another Feng illusion)

The gate came alive.

"Colonel," I said just as he started towards the gate, "how long do you think it would take for that weapon to be modified for humans?"

He looked at me long. His face turned to stone.

"Do I finally have your attention, Colonel?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation, this time. "It must be destroyed and buried," he said slowly. "Including all knowledge of it."

"I am glad you see this," I answered.

"I am glad Bernarde knows nothing of this…"

"I'm glad I probably hold the only working device."

He took in a deep breath.

"I will communicate from the hive so that you can get the coordinates," I said. "Get Feng to the hive. Then just stand by."

Santos stepped through the gate and the Marines followed. With a woosh, the gate closed and all became still.

"He stepped into the trap," Lothar said appreciatively as he stopped alongside of me.

Siegfried came from the other side. "Colonel Santos is not our quarry."

"He is," the Ghost Wraith chuckled as I communicated to him what had happened, "what you humans call a useful idiot."

I wanted to snap at the Wraith in defense of Santos, but I realized that it meant nothing to this Wraith.

On the bridge Lothar, who had the genes of a Ship Wraith, started to bring the systems to life, the little that was left in them. Also, he was setting up some programming; something the Ghost Wraith was instructing him. The prospect of dying other than 'lingering like a human'—as he had put it—seemed to have infused some… ahem… life in him.

Siegfried, however, was standing aside, his hands behind his back, looking like Wraith eye candy.

Oh, great. A Wraith Fabio!

###

Santos was as good as his word—he signaled that the Horizon was on its way with Feng on board.

"Won't he be able to tell that this is not your hive, my Queen?" Lothar asked.

"One hive ship looks the same as the other to them. Trust me." I smiled. "There is much they don't know about hives."

"They certainly don't know about me," the Ship Wraith rumbled and he sounded almost hurt.

"A secret well kept," I said. "A secret which is good to keep."

Feng came on the hive with a full contingency of marines led by Santos. I was glad to see Santos—it meant that he was going along with the plan; well, with the part of the plan he knew. It meant that without saying so, he agreed that the device and the knowledge of it would have to be eliminated. We left how the 'knowledge' would be eliminated without specifics.

That part was in the hands of the Ship Wraith. And Santos did not know of the Ship Wraith; nor would he ever know.

Doctor Bernarde had not made an appearance. I expected that as well. Feng would not want anyone of Bernarde's scientific mind to penetrate too deeply into what was going on. I was glad.

Colonel Santos'—thus the military's—ignorance of the true workings of the device was quite telling.

Feng did not swagger in. That was not his style. He came in a small man, his shoulders scholarly rounded, his hands working in a worried clasp and his face with a pasty smile on it. He looked quite inoffensive.

He walked in like a rodent.

I heard the Ship Wraith hiss with contempt. "Let me just do it!" he whispered in my mind.

_No. Not yet._

A snarl replied to that.

I received Feng standing at the top of the steps of the Queen's throne, the chamber glowing with deep indigo and red colors; colors meant to conceal the state of disintegration. He had been taken on a route carefully camouflaged with the ship's dying mists and illusory shifts of panels that gave the impression of hibernating pods. The deathly silence of the hive was to Feng the sign of a hibernating ship. The fear of being inside the vast and looming hive alone prevented Feng from noticing that this was a dying ship, not a hibernating one.

I was gratified to hear from the Ship Wraith observing him like a malevolent ghost, that Feng was in a high state of fear; but also excitement and anticipation. _He reeks of it_, the Ship Wraith stated.

_Has he pissed in his pants yet?_ I asked mentally.

_I wouldn't know_, the Ship Wraith answered primly.

"Welcome, Doctor Feng," I said with an effusive smile, taking the steps down. I was alone in that enormous chamber, the rows of triangular stasis pods soaring overhead. The fact that they were empty was not readily visible from below.

I also knew that the Ship Wraith was in great pain and would not be able to sustain the illusion of a quietly sleeping hive for a long time.

"Are you alone?" Feng asked artlessly.

"This is a hibernating ship, Doctor," I answered breezily. "A scientific gold mine," I gushed.

I could see Santos look around and I could just about hear his thoughts click. I met his eyes. He nodded.

"Doctor Feng," he said, keeping his voice even, only my tuned ear hearing the sarcasm, "had hoped to meet his first Wraith."

_I will grant his wish_, I heard the Ship Wraith murmur in my mind.

"Not today," I remarked, raising an eyebrow at Santos.

He made a face.

Feng took the initiative: "Let us talk about what happened here, Doctor." A shadow I could not really qualify crossed his bland features with puffy eyes.

_What is he thinking?_ I asked the Ship Wraith.

_Some gibberish about the settings of the device. He's also very much worried where it is._

"I wanted to meet you here," I said, "because I wanted you to be assured I am unharmed in spite of the kidnapping incident, which I am sure Colonel Santos explained to you."

"Yes…" Feng's voice trailed. "It was an unfortunate occurrence when you went to meet the Queen and a proof once more of the Wraith treachery."

_Pffffff…_ the Ship Wraith hummed.

What treachery, I wanted to ask.

_Don't trouble yourself_, the Ship Wraith stopped me. _I don't need his explanations. Neither do you._

"On the other hand," I said, "my rescue by our Wraith allies is a proof of the strength of our alliance, which we should maintain and improve."

_What is he thinking?_ I asked the Ship Wraith.

_Nothing. Well… But, I don't know what it means._

_What?_

_He called you a Wraith whore. Something about you having been screwed ever which way by a Wraith._

I felt my blood boil.

_Easy…_ the Ship Wraith whispered. _He's not listening to you._

_The worst for him._

"Let me get to the heart of the matter," I said. "First is your accusation of my loyalty. If you ever repeat that, or ever even discuss it or think it, I will make sure that you will not set foot on Atlantis, or Pegasus, or any university on Earth ever again. I am here with the approval of the IAC, as a member of the IAC. Do you understand that?" I leaned forward. "If I detect any lack of sincerity in your recantation," my voice went lower. "I will make sure that you don't even get out of the Pegasus. This is a big place and one could get lost. And you could meet a big, bad Wraith at any time."

_He's not impressed_, the Ship Wraith informed.

_Just a formality. It's called due process._

I heard a hum of frustration.

"I understand, Doctor Vries, your point of view," Feng said with an oily voice, obviously oblivious to my conversation with the big bad Wraith. "And I regret what I said. I was under pressure and wrong information."

_He's what you humans call an idiot. And he called you 'whore' again._

"I apologize," Feng concluded. "I hope you will accept it in the spirit of our long standing cooperation."

_Too easy_, the Ship Wraith purred in my mind.

_He's not very subtle._

_He thinks you're stupid._

_Perfect._

"I accept, of course," I said with what I hoped was a stupid smile on my face. "I am relieved that we cleared this up."

"Me too."

"The other thing I wanted to discuss with you." I bent down into the mists and picked up the device. I held it in front of me. "What is this?"

I saw his face fall.

_Now I think he pissed in his pants_, the Ship Wraith, who had previously demurred any knowledge of such human functions, declared with satisfaction. _And the ugly kind of outfits you have, it deserves no better._

I valiantly tried to hold back a smile. I think it made my face look innocent.

Feng was looking at me with narrow, suspicious eyes. "You didn't figure it out?"

I shrugged and put all the contempt I could muster—and that was easy—into my voice: "I am a physicist of all things planetary and galactic, not a mechanic."

_He's relieved. I think it was his only one while he's building another one. Improved one. _

Feng's head rotated on its axis, his eyes squinting, apparently trying to see better into the gloom. "When we sent this device into this hive," he said, "we had indications that there were active Wraith with you. Is the Commander here?"

A leading question. Not good. "They went back into hibernation immediately after. I had to do my best to keep together the fabric of our alliance after the attack—"

"We thought you were in danger—"

_He's not a very good deceiver, is he? Or is this considered good among humans?_

"And by you attacking the ship you took me out of danger?" I quipped in spite of my attempt to play stupid.

"We were going to board it," he was compounding his lies. His face brightened as he apparently came up with the perfect fib. "That is what the purpose of this device is—to locate you and render the Wraith stunned for a while. But we had to destroy the jamming capability to transfer this on board. That's why we attacked."

_Nice save… Almost true._

He frowned. "We did see a dart fly off—"

"That was the Commander," I lied right back. I waved my hand. "I understand, of course." I handed him the device. "It just plopped on the bridge."

He clutched it, but then he started to turn it in his hand, examining it.

_He thinks it's operational and nothing wrong with it, _the Ship Wraith hummed_._

"Under the circumstances," Feng said, "perhaps it was a good thing. I knew it still had a lot of bugs. Good thing you retrieved it. I will take it apart again and test it some more."

"This is something new," I said. "Did you develop it?"

"It's experimental." He was hedging.

_He wonders how much you really know._

"To be honest with you," I said quietly, "the Wraith who saw this thought that this was a device that uses their DNA to disrupt their nervous system. They related to me that there have been circumstances when a hive had been attacked with a device that killed every Wraith on the ship. They thought it was a human device."

His gaze flew up at me. "You believe a Wraith?"

The Ship Wraith snorted. _And hurry up_, he added_. I'm getting weaker._

"It gave me pause," I said to Feng. "It gave me pause on several levels. First, that you would develop a weapon without the IAC's knowledge or approval; second why would you develop a weapon in the first place to annihilate the Wraith; and third, why you would be willing to use what can be considered as a biological weapon and its use as genocide."

_Please skip this what you call due process._

"This is not Earth, Doctor Vries; and these are Wraith."

"I could argue my case quite successfully on Earth against you."

_What is he thinking?_ I asked urgently. Even subconsciously, as he was trying to come up with lies, he would be answering my questions.

The Ship Wraith hummed. _Now, this I can understand._

_What?_

_The trials and approvals and all the other considerations are of no interest to him because of what his real purpose is. I saw it flash through his mind clearly—he has no intention, if successful, to return to Earth or Atlantis._

_What?_

_He wants to position himself as the Liberator of Pegasus and thus take control of the whole galaxy, a grateful human population making him their leader for life. He would keep just enough Wraith around to ensure that the population of Pegasus are always in his control. He fully plans to kick out Atlantis at some point._

I stared at Feng.

He seemed to think that I was waiting for his answer, because he said, hurriedly: "Now that you know that this is just a device to stun the Wraith, all that is no longer a consideration."

I shrugged. "Of course." I smiled. "I did wonder, I have to admit, why you chose the bridge. Had it been the weapon I thought it was, you would've chosen to place it near or within the area where the hibernating pods are." I circled the chamber around us with my hand. I stood up. "I am prepared to return to Atlantis," I said. "Shall we go?" Then, as if I had a second thought. "Perhaps you would like to see the hive? It is safe. No Wraith around. I am in charge of the wake up call."

_He's taken the bait!_ The Ship Wraith announced before Feng even opened his mouth.

"I would like to spend a few minutes looking around." He grinned. "Would you accompany me?"

_Careful_, the Ship Wraith warned. _He wants to kill you_.

_Protect my back._

_I am._

_Make sure all the others are off. And communicate to Santos what we want him to do._

_Sure?_

_Sure. We have no choice._

Feng looked me in the eyes. "Take me where you think it's the most vulnerable spot of the hive."

_Bring him to me_, the Ship Wraith hissed.

_No._

_Trust me._

_That's a curious thing for a Wraith to say._

_Compared to your human, Feng?_

I took Feng out a side corridor, while he was cradling the device.

_He doesn't realize what will really happen_, the Ship Wraith hummed, quite pleased with himself.

_He doesn't know the true nature of this ship._

_He thinks you're a stupid female._

_He thinks many things._

_He doesn't know you, does he?_

Had I just been called intelligent by a Wraith? _There are many things he doesn't know._

I let out my breath as I stopped in the center chamber of the hive. Weakened, the Ship Wraith was not visible, just a whirl of mist and darkly purple light. I knew that Lothar was lurking in the dark, at ready.

Feng turned on his axis.

"So," I said, "hypothetically speaking, if you wanted to reach with a weapon that attacked—shall we say, nervous system or DNA—of the entire Wraith population of the hive, this would be the spot."

For what seemed to me interminable time, Feng stared at the dark funnel of mist in the middle of the chamber. I began to think that my plan, or rather the certitude of my plan, had been misguided. In some sense, I felt relief; Feng did have some conscience; or was not driven by the ambition the Ship Wraith had seen in his mind. Perhaps it had been just a sardonic thought in response to my questions. I closed my eyes for a second. It was very silent all around me; not even the slightest rustle.

A flash of light made me gasp.

A beam of blue light scythed from the widening slit in the device, and carrying with it some infernal signal it travelled over the walls of the chamber.

Feng had activated the device and was looking back at me with a loopy grin.

I cursed myself for the moment of inattention.

"You are irrelevant now," Feng said slowly. His voice was quiet, without passion, as if he was talking about the weather. "You may go." He pulled out a weapon. "Your Wraith are already dead, or beyond hope already. You may stay to see the results, or you may leave. May be if you run fast enough, I'll miss. I am not a good shot."

"RUN!"

I realized that the howled command had not been in my mind.

Feng swerved around. And he bolted.

_RUN, YOU IDIOT HUMAN!_

This one was in my mind.

I ran, Feng ahead of me, holding the device.

He stopped suddenly in his tracks, and as I passed him, I saw him caught in some kind of gelatinous mass. I hurled forward, my mind aware that at that very moment Lothar had injected the DNA and the gene radical locks had released the Ship Wraith. Beyond that, it was a blur as I felt the ship pitch forward as if to help me run even faster. I wondered if it had not been too late both for the Ship Wraith and Lothar.

When I reached the ship bay, Santos had his transport ready to fly off.

"Where is Feng?" Santos asked without much interest.

"He's staying behind to see the results of his work."

"Let's move, now!" I yelled and ran into the transport.

"Take off!" I yelled. "Now, now, now!"

The transport lurched forward and spit itself out of the hive, tumbling away from the behemoth.

Santos looked at me long as we stopped some distance away and we turned to the window facing the hive.

"That felt weird," he said slowly. "I never thought I'll see the day when I obey orders from Wraith."

"They were my instructions."

"Still—"

I raised my hand to silence him and pointed to the hive.

"What the hell is going on!" he breathed out.

The men on the bridge became silent as they looked at what we were seeing.

I stared both in dismay and awe. That was not what I had expected.

The hive was collapsing unto itself. Layer by layer, from below and from above, crumbling like a tin can, at first slowly, almost as if it was an illusion and then with increasing speed.

In less than a minute, the hive became still, just a sliver of matter in space. Then it exploded, sending itself into the dust of space.

"Oops." I marked the end.

###

Santos turned to me. "Did you know that this could happen?"

I gave him a very Wraith shrug and hummed an inconclusive answer. "The Wraith who knew about it didn't give me specifics."

He looked at me in dismay. "But, you allowed him to kill the Wraith on board—I don't understand!"

"That was a dying hive. A hive Feng hit with the device before, but not very well. And the hive has a nervous system. When he set off the second device, well, it went into convulsions on a grand scale." I sighed. "I guess Feng did get to see what happens. I am sure he died happy."

"I never imagined."

"Neither did he. Neither did I."

"He made his choice." He walked back to his command console and sat down. "It will be an interesting report."

"I am sure it will be correct."

"He died as a result of a mismanaged experiment. A human error."

"I think that would be correct."

He nodded. "Are you coming back to Atlantis?"

"I don't know." And I spoke the truth. I didn't know. Suddenly, from the back of my mind came forward the one item I had suppressed all this time—my Amber Wraith was injured. I didn't know how badly.

I felt panic and urgency.

"For now," I said, trying to keep a calm voice, "I have unfinished business with our alliance."

"There's a Wraith transport hailing us," Santos' second in command called.

"My flight is boarding," I said.

Santos smiled and swiveled to his second in command. "Let them know that we are sending a transport with Doctor Vries." He looked me in the eyes. "Their Queen."

###

The gates to the interior of the Wraith transport opened and, while throwing one last glance at the Horizon transport lifting off the floor of the bay, I stepped into the wide corridor bathed in a low amber light,

But, it was only a brief look at the departing human ship, as I turned to face the line of Wraith waiting to escort me. They bowed their head with that clip motion that had become so oddly comforting in its familiarity. As I walked towards the heart of the transport, with my Wraith escort, I considered, rather sardonically, how indeed comfortable it has become for me to walk into a Wraith ship and how I was walking there less and less as a human. What really awoke me to this bizarre reality was the fact that when two worshippers approached me to offer me a drink and some fruits, unlike the first time I met worshippers, I didn't even notice their faces or register whether I had seen them before or not. Their liking for me, or hostility—I suspected it was the latter mixed with a lot of fear; I am sure legends and myth had already taken shape among them about me—was of little consequence to me.

My mental musings—which were a mechanism to shield my anxiety; yes, I've learned that technique as well, so that I do not convey my Wraith any weakness—were cut short when the doors to the inner chamber whooshed open. I let out my breath.

The Ship Wraith—the Blue Wraith now; no longer a Ship Wraith—was seated inside a chair, his hands draped over its arms, Lothar and Siegfried behind him, their twin blue eyes fixed on me with slit intensity.

The Blue Wraith stood up and bowed his head to me. I bowed mine to him.

"You are safe," I said.

"I do not wish to repeat the experience," he rumbled, his voice oddly hollow.

I looked at him carefully. I had only seen him as a fading outline, a barely substantial image within a dark light. But, in his material Wraith form, he was bigger than most Wraith, of a darker skin coloration and of more angular, dangerous casting. His hair, of a bluish white was long and wild, his eyes glaring yellow and his very outfit—I still wondered how these were constructed so fast and so beautifully—was an intricate and strangely brutal combination of leatherwork and metal.

He looked as the baddest badass Wraith I had ever seen.

Lothar and Siegfried slipped away, the door closing behind them. I was left alone with the Blue Wraith. I felt a passing moment of discomfort.

He sat down and shuddered for a moment.

"You are still in pain?" I asked.

"Don't trouble yourself," he hissed back. His yellow eyes glared at me violently. "What have you done to me?"

I was taken aback and not quick enough to hide it. "You agreed to it."

He let out a hissing growl; a very threatening growl. "It is a Wraith's prerogative to change its mind."

I relaxed. That sarcastic remark signaled to me that he was not really threatening me. "Why the sudden regret," I asked. "You are alive."

He shook his head. "Sit down little human female," he said and sat down himself, at an angle, obviously favoring the more painful parts of him. "You have been very brave. You are becoming a bit of a story among the Wraith. I understand that I am the second Wraith for whom you have shown an honor only another Wraith would show."

I sat down, suddenly feeling exhausted. I wanted to know about my Amber Wraith; but I knew that all those compliments should not lull me into the comfort zone where I could show any special attachment or anxiety.

"I had wondered," I said instead, "if Lothar had been quick enough to release you."

"It had been done before you reached the chamber with that—what do you humans call those… bugs? Oh, yes, I remember now—cockroach." He shook his head.

"Why do you Wraith make everything so excruciatingly painful?" I asked. "You spend all this energy to create all these DNA tricks, but nothing for making it less painful."

He tilted his head. "Why would one bother?" he snarled back at me. "Extracting a Ship Wraith out of his hivebody is not for his survival, but to kill him. We spare pain only for those we want to protect." He eyed me. Then he looked aside. "I would've preferred to remain with my hivebody." He shuddered again. "It is not the pain that makes me say that. Pain is the prize for wanting to live also. My life was part of our understanding. But, I had forgotten that now I have back the mental weaknesses of my old existence."

I didn't ask what. I knew he would tell me eventually.

He did after a long while, as if loath to reveal to me his weakness; but, when he did, I understood why he would to me. "I had forgotten," he said quietly, "how much that Ancient female was part of my existence as a Wraith. And you make me think of the—" He was looking for the word again. He seemed to do that when it came to that part of his long life.

"Alliance," I helped.

His gaze turned fiercely on me. "It was not an alliance! Don't fool yourself."

Why would I fool myself? But I knew the answer to that.

He put it in words. "The same as you fool yourself about your alliance with your Wraith. It's not an alliance."

"What do you call it then?"

"Mating."

I bristled. "It is not!"

He grinned. "My Ancient female—"

"Did she have a name?"

He paused. "I forgot that humans do not give much weight to names. Her name was Nardina." Then he continued: "Nardina didn't like me calling it 'mating' either."

"What did she call it?" I asked.

"My relation with her interests you…" he mused and let out a little purr. "She called it—LOVE." He snorted.

I let that one hang in the air for a while. "Wraith have no concept of it, of course." I said. "I doubt you could ever get your minds around it."

"Not necessary for our survival and progress," he answered. "If Nardina's demonstration of it is any indication, it would be, as humans call it, like baying at the moon—"

"—lunacy."

"Yes. Lunacy and actually an impediment to our survival." The yellow eyes were focused on me. "Oh, I understand what it is. Nardina made me understand this very peculiar human concept."

"How did she do that?" I asked.

"By her actions."

He was skirting the answer. "What did she do?"

"She gave her life to save mine."

My heart took a little skip.

"That was what you call love, wasn't it?" he asked in a whisper.

"Yes, that is love." I looked at him. "No Wraith would lose his life for another?"

He snarled at me with contempt. "What profit would there be to me?"

"But you would fight to save the life of your Queen."

"Of course. Because she is the queen and that's part of our duty."

"You could lose your life doing it."

"Yes, in battle, equal risk and chance of survival, the chances of battle. And we protect a Queen because she is of profit to us and the hive. We don't exchange our lives for hers." He peered at me with a grin. "You saved my life because it was part of our understanding. But, you escaped to save your own life, regardless of whether you succeeded to save mine. I saved your life because of my understanding with your Ship Wraith. If I had died, it would have been the circumstances, not my choice."

What was he babbling?

"What understanding with my Ship Wraith?" I asked, picking up on that little nugget he had offered, suddenly suspicious.

"You don't think that any of this happened without his agreement?"

"What agreement?"

"You don't think that I would agree to replace him as Ship Wraith until he is healed, without some profit to myself? Or to him?" He leaned forward. "You have much to learn, little human."

"Explain to me the terns of the agreement."

He leaned forward. "You will give me a Queen."

"With you?" I blurted out too stunned to really consider what I just heard.

"No. With your Ship Wraith, when he's no longer one. As a Ship Wraith he cannot create a Queen." He leaned even closer to me. "You'd like that." He receded a bit. "And then, you will create a Ship Wraith."

"With my Amber—" I echoed stupidly.

"No, with me. I will control the hive mating pools."

"I will do no such thing!" I jumped to my feet.

"You will," the Ship Wraith purred quietly.

"You two, great Wraith, have agreed on these terms, all on your own, bless your Wraith hearts?" I had calmed down somewhat and was returning to my sarcastic self.

But, either deliberately, or with Wraith tone deafness, he seemed to have missed my sarcasm: "First of all," he said without a hint of mockery in his voice, "it is my task to present to you the terms for your agreement. Secondly, you have accomplished something no Wraith Queen or Wraith has ever accomplished—an alliance between two Ship Wraith. That is unheard of. You are changing us, Elena Vries." He peered at me with what I could only term predatory curiosity.

"And if I don't agree to the terms?"

"What will you do? Return to Atlantis? My female Ancient could not return to her world either." He gave me a Wraith grin. "You will agree."

"I must say I am fascinated by the degree of arrogance with which Wraith approach agreements."

"We don't open negotiations until we are certain of our counterpart's motives and wishes."

"And what is my wish that will make me agree?"

He was very close now, his right hand softly touching my hair. "You will do it because you love your Amber Wraith." He grinned. "And you will set the world right, just like my Ancient female so desired to do. For me."

I trembled and I wasn't sure why.

"Except," he continued, softly drawing me close to him, "my poor Nardina did not have the powers you have. You could be a true Wraith Queen. You have that rare bit of DNA with which you already produced powerful Queens, so powerful that they had to be killed. You can also produce Ship Wraith and Wraith that can mate to create more Queens. You don't realize how powerful you are. You can create a whole Wraith faction and eliminate all the others. And that is the mating alliance with your Ship Wraith. The Queen and Ship Wraith you will give me is the start, just the beginning of your kingdom, to establish you as the Primary, little female human."

"Why do you need a Ship Wraith?" I asked, more to distract him for a while so that I could settle down inside. Mating alliance… My heart fluttered and I did not welcome it; yet, it made me feel… I could not describe it.

He pulled back. "I cannot be a Ship Wraith again. A Ship Wraith is removed to be killed. One has never returned. It cannot be done. But, you owe me a hive and a Queen. Lothar will become my Ship Wraith. And the Queen you will create, will be my Queen."

"If you are going to take Lothar," I rattled, "then why do you need to create a Ship Wraith with me? Why me?"

He sighed. "The Ship Wraith is for your hive. Same as me, your Amber Wraith will not be able to become a Ship Wraith again. That is the price we pay for survival. For you. The Ship Wraith you create with me will take his place. Your Amber Wraith will become with you, the creator of Queens. You will be the Primary of all these Queens and hive ships with Ship Wraiths. No one will have the power you will."

A thought crossed my mind; and this one grossed me out. "I will not become some bloated Queen producing warriors!"

He gave me a long look. "Of course not. You are not Wraith. You cannot create warriors. You do not have the genetic material for it or the biological and physical requirements for it. That is one power you do not have. That is why you need secondary Queens who will have the honor to produce warriors. That will give them the illusion of power and keep them in line."

So very neat… All the chess pieces on the board, in their right place; the two Wraith—the Blue and the Amber—grinning over the order they had arranged.

But for one fly in the ointment. "You seem to forget one detail."

"We are?"

"I am human—"

"We are acutely aware of that."

"And I have a very short life."

"A Ship Wraith can give the gift of life many times over. As a Ship Wraith, he would not have to use the life of humans; I know you would object to that."

"No. I will never accept that."

"My Nardina wanted to ascend."

"I do not want to lose my human essence. And my human essence is mortality."

He nodded and then was silent for quite a while. I felt that his mind was bending somewhere else.

He said, at long last: "We accept that."

"There is another condition," I added.

He nodded and tilted his head to listen.

"When I reach the end of my life and pass on, the hives will go into hibernation for many centuries. That is my condition."

There was deep thought in the citrine eyes; and then wistful comprehension. "I see…"

Again, he seemed to bend his thoughts elsewhere, removed from my presence. Then he turned his face to me. "I presented your conditions to your Amber Wraith. He agrees." He stood up. "We have an agreement."

"Not quite," I said, perhaps a little stung that my Wraith was negotiating through an intermediary. "Since you are speaking with the Amber Wraith—"

"—restrain your misplaced human temper. He is too wounded to be here and speak directly."

I took a deep breath, chastised. I was being particularly stupid that day… I was beginning to be grateful to this Wraith with an attitude and the memory of an Ancient woman—

"I agree only to one Queen and one Ship Wraith."

"Understandable." He leaned forward. "Oh," he purred, "you will change your mind, Elena Vries." He put his right hand softly on my chest. I felt the opening in his palm shift moistly against my skin. Before I could step back—not that I felt a great urge to do so—he took his hand away. "Soon, Elena Vries, you will no longer be called Elena Vries."


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

When I entered the twisted halls and corridors of the hive I was struck by the silence. I've always been aware of it—unlike human spaceships, there was no metal structure and outer skin through which the hum of the machinery to travel. Also lacking was that din and echo of voices characteristic of human habitation. On a hiveship, even the human contingency—the worshippers-had learned to use their voice minimally, using instead a system of hand signals, like monks in a cloister.

But this time the silence seemed deeper, like a concealing cloak, going beyond the missing hum of machinery and din of voices. I had expected to feel or sense something in my mind from my Amber Wraith. But, he was silent. My escort—Lothar and Siegfried—was equally silent; not just that they said nothing; but they were not even looking at me. The Ghost Wraith, or the Blue Wraith as I had come to identify him, had vanished into the depth of the hive when we have disembarked, and even he, vocal as he was, had done so without a word. The two worshippers who walked in my wake, were like ghosts and I did not welcome their presence. As we advanced into the heart of the hiveship, even Siegfried and Lothar went in different directions, acknowledging me with only a sharp incline of their white haired head, their blue eyes flicking only for a second at me.

The two female worshippers took me to a great alcove-like chamber, high up the wall of the funnel-like great hall rising in a spiral of such alcoves. A clever screen of opaque and transparent amber provided me with privacy, yet allowed me to see out. The chamber—or rather a suite of alcoves embedded into the structure of the hive—had as its center a bench with arms set upon a dais, screens of liquid light behind it. It was almost like a queen's throne; it was certainly more elaborate than the one I had seen in the Commander's alcove when I had first entered the hive; oh, so long ago…

In a side alcove was what I would describe as my bedroom, a large, four post bed enthroned in its middle, rich brocade hangings enclosing it. I wondered from where this had been culled. Wraith did not sleep in such contraptions; it had been placed there for me. And that was the only sign I had that someone on that hive paid attention to me and my needs with a degree of care not given others. Other than the two worshippers who appeared and vanished at various intervals, bringing me either fresh linen and clothing, or food, or providing for my bath, no one else came and I had not means of measuring time; their appearances was the only way I had to quantify and gauge the passage of time.

And time passed in that silence, perched in that alcove high above the floor of the hall, a winding staircase leading down. I sat on that bench and my thoughts turned and twisted into a rope from which I hung tenaciously, but wondering whether my sanity was slipping. The rhythm of the worshippers' appearance became cyclical—drawing open the curtains of the bed, tray of a hot flavorful liquid and fruit, assistance with my bath and dressing; more food a while later; a dimming of lights as they appeared again, with more food; and then preparations for bed; as they closed the curtains of my bed, I counted what I now considered another day; whether it was a 24 hour Earth day, or the day of an immortal Wraith, I did not know.

I missed human presence—the worshippers somehow did not fulfill that role. I did miss Moira, though. Over time she had become something beyond the dysfunctional humans that were the Wraith worshippers, drugged and twisted by the Gift of the Worshippers injected in their bloodstream and their psychic every time they were 'rewarded' or 'punished' by their masters. I distrusted them and I disliked them profoundly; I did not know if it was with the dislike of the Latean or of the Wraith. It was really disdain. If I had ever felt compassion or pity for the creatures, none was left. But, I missed Moira…

Only once I addressed them to ask from where my food was coming. I looked at them hard, conveying that I would not tolerate a snarky answer. The older of the two bowed and answered, with no hint of hostility in her voice: "The Wraith masters bring it for you, my lady, from their travels." I half expected for her to add 'while we forage for ours', and 'we would not get such fine fare as you,', but she fell silent and moved away.

Other than the faceless female worshippers, no one came to me and no one called. Even the hall around me was silent and empty. I never did see a Wraith. I realized that my solitude was becoming pathetic loneliness when I started to wish for the presence of even a drone.

But, the unspoken reality was that I missed terribly the presence of one Wraith—my Amber Wraith. My heart shriveled into a small nugget of painful fire as I thought of his absence, of how I was there because of him, isolated and alone. He had sent the transport to take me back to the hive. Yet, he had not called for me, had not come, had not sent even a word. Perhaps it was not the way of the Wraith. They called, summoned and commanded worshippers. I was not one. Perhaps, I was considered an equal and therefore I was supposed to go to him and seek him out. Perhaps he did consider me the equivalent of a Queen, and he expected that I summon him. But my human female 'pride' would not allow me any of those options. I sat on my throne stubbornly and started to seethe like a jilted bride; and pout.

In that state of twirling thoughts and circular discourse, one 'night' while still in my bed, having tossed and turned among the dark sheets—the Wraith had a definite liking for black-I touched one of the amber columns embedded in the wall behind the headboard. For days, every time I had done this, there had been no answer, no vibration, no flash of colors or scents in my mind. The ship was silent at many levels. I started to worry and then panic with the thought that the Amber Wraith was dead. As a matter of fact, I was beginning to believe that the silence was due to his death. It had been part of my agreement with the Blue Wraith that he would take the place of my Wraith and allow him to heal. It was a tricky and dangerous operation, the Blue Wraith had assured me with his usual propensity for drama. Whether the substitution had happened in the first place, I have had no hint of it. Whether the Amber Wraith had survived it, or whether he was healing, or whether he was dead, nothing around me, not even the behavior of the worshippers, provided any indication. I kept touching the column behind my bed and it was silent, cold and inert. I sunk deeper in the dark funnel of doubts and fears/ The Blue Wraith would've answered my touch. He was outrageous enough to have tried more, as I lay in my bed surrounded by the hiveship.

This night, as every other night, the amber under my touch was cold and dark.

I parted the curtains and got out of bed, the thin nightgown of black silk—or something akin to silk—no protection against the sudden cold I felt around me. Soft mist rose from the floor and caressed my ankles, wisps of it, like fingers, fluttering up my legs.

I stopped halfway through the alcove. _Is that you, you dirty old Wraith?_ While normally I would've been primly shocked by such an action, this time I eagerly hoped it was the Blue Wraith.

But, there was no answer. The mist drifted around the floor without life.

I took my leather coat given to me—and obviously tailored for my size and put it on my shoulders. For all its massive look, the leather was thin and supple and strangely light. I stared in front of me, and wished for a window. I stared into the hall and wished for sound. Suddenly, I wanted music, fresh air, the sun and the sky. I touched the wall where I would've liked to have a window and traced the filigree of amber with the tip of my fingers. "Today," I said aloud, "I am going to search for you and find you." Did I feel a small shiver under my hand? I spread out my fingers and flattened my right palm on the surface, trying to absorb a sign of any life underneath the surface.

I sensed someone staring at my back. I whipped around with almost Wraith-like sharpness. quickly.

The two female worshippers were standing behind me, one holding a tray with the steaming food, the other carrying on her arms a new outfit of golden leather. I wondered if they were here out of turn or it just happened to be the time for them to awaken me and assist me in dressing—the Wraith system of fastening the outfit did require assistance. I rather believed the latter.

Wordlessly, as always, they helped me shed the nightgown, which as always they took away to bring a fresh one later, they triggered that blue cone of light that was the Wraith very pleasant, if not delightful, form of bathing and then with soft sheets they wrapped me, served me the food, waited until I was finished and then dressed me. They left silently with the old clothes and trays of empty dishes, and I sat down again and stared at the wall.

A soft rustle to my left made me turn on my bench. It was not time for the worshippers to return, unless time was slipping away from me; it had not sounded like a worshipper.

The taller and more massive of the blue eyed twins stood on the landing of the staircase leading to my alcove.

Lothar.

I have come to recognize the larger form of the future Ship Wraith, as opposed to the still very tall but more lithe and thinner Siegfried.

He inclined his head lightly and took a few steps towards me. But then he circled around and retraced his steps back to the landing of the staircase. Strangely, I felt that his sudden appearance was a social one; there was something gracious in his manner; or rather it lacked the usual Wraith aggressiveness, one that was always there even when the intent was not one of violence.

"I am pleased that you have come," I said and stood up, trying to sound Wraith formal while conveying my gladness. He inclined his head again in acknowledgement. "I have not seen many Wraith; actually I've seen none since I've arrived on the hive."

Suddenly, a ribbon of my Wraith's colors and the feel of the scents and sounds associated with his name passed through my mind. _How is he?_

Lothar did not answer; or if he did, I did not hear it. Instead I felt the presence of the Blue Wraith in my mind. I let out a sigh. At least the Blue Wraith was around; and he had to be inside the ship if he could speak to me like that.

I flinched, startled by the move of Lothar's fingers, so rapid that they seemed blurred, and by the metallic flash of a long, serrated Wraith dagger in his hands. As I caught my breath, he bowed his head, and in an offering gesture, he held the dagger across his open palms. It was a stealth object of death, the blade shimmering with swirls of darker metal and the handle encrusted with blue amber. "Keep it always ready in the sheath of your sleeve," he said very softly, a hiss in his voice.

I fingered my leather sleeve studded with metal. There was a sheath there.

I put out my hand and gingerly took the dagger by the hilt. It was heavy in my hand, the feel of the amber and metal in my grip unexpectedly pleasurable. It felt curiously alive, as if it were a cat I was stroking. There was something comfortable and reassuring in its deadly beauty.

I slipped it in the sheath hidden in the sleeve of my left arm. Lothar bowed slightly, turned around with that startling leaping speed of the Wraith and walked away, down the stairs. I watched him cross the floor below and meld into the shadows and colors of the walls. I felt the dagger in my sleeve like one would something dormant, but alive.

After pondering for a few minutes, I concluded that it all came together to convince me to leave my self imposed prison and wander through the hive. There was suddenly a feeling of curiosity, of delectable anticipation of discoveries; but above all the very delicious anticipation of an encounter with my Wraith. I was not sure, perhaps just an impression, the illusions of mind left alone for too long, but I thought I could discern a vague blue glow at my feet that seemed to trace a path for me to follow.

I crossed the floor of the hall, oddly enough following Lothar's steps and entered one of the wider corridors that opened into a series of chambers filled with shadowy columns of translucent of glowing light intertwined with that amber like material. A bluish mist swirled around my ankles, feeling strangely cold. The floor beneath my feet continued to glow faintly with a blue shimmer, barely visible under the blanket of cold fog.

The procession of corridors and chambers with translucent walls and amber snaking up columns like wrought iron seemed aimless, without direction or purpose, coming from nowhere and leading nowhere, endlessly branching off into the body of the hive.

I slowed down my step as I thought I heard a voice. I listened.

More than one voice. Several.

They were human voices, speaking quietly, casually. I could make out a woman's voice, then a man's, then another woman's voice. There were other noises in the background that I recognized as the clatter of domestic work. I turned in the direction of the voices aware that the blue glow was pointing elsewhere. I hesitated, as the glow got stronger, but did not follow it. Instead, I started to walk in the direction of the voices. Perhaps it was my loneliness for a humanity; my loneliness for any humanity, even the mutated presence of worshippers.

When I stepped over the threshold of the large chamber with drab walls and dark columns, the only light being offered by a luminous circle high in the ceiling, the owners of the voices—indeed a group of worshippers working at long tables—stopped whatever they were doing in mid-gesture, falling silent. With the self-effacing and completely unobtrusive manner I have noticed them use in the presence of the Wraith, they retreated towards the far side of the room, keeping their eye on me; not on my face but a general, veiled look in my general direction, both defensive and anticipatory. When they reached the wall, they lowered their gaze. But I knew they were peering at me from under their eyelashes. They stood there, subservient and afraid—had the story of how I killed a Queen reached them as well? Or they feared me because they feared the Wraith who favored me?

I didn't want to linger there. I had nothing to tell them. Something instinctive, like a sixth sense whispered to me, insistently, that I should not be there and that I should walk away.

Just turn and walk away.

Turn now.

I saw one of the worshippers look up, just a flick of the head and then look down again. I felt a strange iciness under my feet.

"As expected," a Wraith voice hissed behind me.

I turned around, my right hand reaching into my left sleeve.

But, I did not have a chance. My human reflexes would never fool a Wraith.

Siegfried's tall figure lashed forward and his hand grabbed my left wrist, while he knocked away my right. "I wondered," he hissed again, "how long before you try to find your own kind." He grinned.

"Let me go," I snapped at him, foolishly, I knew. I realized with horror and deep hurt that Siegfried's intentions were not limited to grabbing my wrist and chiding me about some imaginary attraction to worshippers, my fellow humans. That was only incidental.

I saw his feeding hand move towards me like an attacking spider. While he was still holding my left wrist in the vice of his fingers, I jerked at him, but he was like a solid rock. I pitched away from him and then trying to make a move that he would not expect, I twisted on my axis as I swung around him. It worked for just one tiny shift of his left foot. It was a tiny shift, but enough for me to come within reach one of the columns, while, I hoped Siegfried was anticipating the very human reaction of using my free hand to block his life sucking one. I contemplated grimly that his mistake had been to hold my left hand and not my right.

I slammed my right hand on the surface. I felt a small nugget of heat in the middle of my right palm. Siegfried growled and pushed me into the column, perhaps in annoyance at the moment he had allowed that small side step, or in some act of defiance for whoever I thought would give me help through the living body of the hive. With the confidence of the predator holding his prey under the sheer power of the terror he was, he let go of my hand and pinned me against the column with his very presence, his slitted blue eyes staring into mine, the pupils glowing like neon. His feeding hand faced me, the slit in the palm open, the edges red, a luminous liquid within it, the claws sheathed with metal aiming for the hit.

I slipped my left hand on the column and felt a small vibration. Without any forethought I shot up my right hand and slammed it against his chest.

A futile gesture; even if I could feed, I could not penetrate through the armor of the leather covering his chest.

I should get finger guards with sharp tips…

He let out a gasp of surprise, his eyes widening, staring at me. I felt something greatly unpleasant, like a noxious sickness pulse through my right arm and explode in my stomach. The leather on his chest seemed to melt away.

I cannot feed, the thought flashed through my mind, almost in protest at the evidence to the contrary. But; someone more powerful than any ordinary Wraith, a Ship Wraith, could feed through me…

I heard a woman scream. Siegfried's face became gaunt and his very presence faded, weakened. I wanted to remove my hand from his chest, but it was as if being electrocuted; I could not break the bond between my hand and his being. I heard myself scream and with a movement of my will that seemed to snap every neural fiber in my brain, I took my left hand off the column and pushed him away with my right palm. He staggered back. A male worshipper leaped forward, covering the distance between the far wall and Siegfried with the speed and agility of a scurrying roach. He raised his hand and a knife flashed in it. It scythed down on me and I reached to deflect its trajectory in an instinctive move while my mind, suddenly disconnected, coolly told me that I would lose a few fingers in the process.

However, my hand and that knife did not connect and the gleam of metal suddenly changed its trajectory, arching away from me as a flash of flying white hair cut off my view and a bolt of blue light hit the worshipper.

I gasped for air and words as I saw the Commander, my Amber Wraith, hiss at me with feral ferocity and then attack Siegfried, a dagger in his hand poised to cut the blue eyed Wraith's throat.

"No!" I screamed and propelled myself towards the two. Not again! my mind screamed.

The sharp and wrathful hiss of the Amber Wraith stopped me. There was a blunt spark in my brain that left me strangely limp. However, his dagger did not proceed to finish its murderous task; it was now suspended motionless a few centimeters from Siegfried's throat. He turned his head slightly and growled at the worshippers. They ran off, receding into the nooks and crannies of the far walls.

"Don't kill him, please," I said, trying to sound quiet.

The answer was a low hiss. I looked into the amber eyes. The slits were wide, reptilian, the iris shimmering with green lights I had not seen there before.

I called his Wraith name of colors and scents.

His hiss became lower and more aggressive. The knife flashed and dark blood gushed out of the thin, precise line cut across Siegfried's pale throat by the fatal blade.

All strength and will left my body, all warmth drained. Shivering as if I had been dunked in icy water, I dropped down to my knees next to the body. I started to sob uncontrollably. My eyes were covered with a veil of tears and anguish, no longer capable to look at the beautiful Wraith that had been Siegfried; blue eyed, murderous and blood of my blood. Something the other Wraith, the one I loved, who now stood in front of me, staring down, would never, ever understand. And that was perhaps what filled me with the deepest sorrow.

Two worshippers appeared and unceremoniously dragged Siegfried away. The trail of blood left on the floor seemed to seep into the fabric of the hive, covered by the thinning mist.

I finally looked up to the Amber Wraith and met his eyes. They were now amber again, the feral light gone. The face was like stone, giving away nothing. I had feared for the Amber Wraith's life, and a glow of happiness had streaked across my mind at the realization that he was healed and alive. But that small glow in the midst of the cruelty and brutality of a Wraith existence was being snuffed out completely by the realization that while I had given my very soul to this Wraith, in return there was nothing. NOTHING.

I felt small and inferior, a feeling I had never had before; one that suddenly infuriated me.

He hissed down on me, the sound of his voice more in my head than in my ear: "Your human irrational sensitivities mean nothing here. Learn to accept that there are lives that should not be saved and some lives are best if lost." He turned on his heels and walked away.

I felt something travel through my palm touching the floor. A prompt? _Don't let the bastard—not that Wraith have such a rank—walk away_.

I looked after the Amber Wraith and noticed that he had not gone very far from me; he was not walking at that clipped, fast pace of the Wraith. It was as if he was teasing me, lingering, leaving behind a vague veil of colors and scents.

You son of a bitch!

I sprung to my feet.

I had no illusion that I could move fast enough, or quietly enough, or stealthily enough to fool his Wraith senses. I had no doubt that he had allowed me to overtake him and grab a fistful of his flowing, white hair while pulling on him the dagger Lothar had given me. He actually purred as I pulled his head back to expose his throat and I reached from behind, rather awkwardly I noted to myself, standing very precariously on my toes, and put the blade against the pale skin. The dagger felt alive and excited in my hand.

He stopped moving and became very still, his neck arched back, a swatch of his hair in my fist, my face half buried in the silky, warm white mane. He was putting no weight on me; to the contrary, he was somehow holding me up on my toes. There was a soft growl coming from him, I could feel its vibration against my whole front. Standing behind him like that only emphasized how small and fragile I was compared to his height swaddled in that golden black leather.

But I was too angry to consider the situation. "Do you like this better?" I hissed into his back as I could not reach his ear, my face now tangled in his hair, some of it getting into my mouth. I tried to spit it out. A little thought came to my mind that his hair had a very nice smell; one I could not identify, but something green. Nice shampoo—

He purred and this time I had no doubt that it was neither threatening nor angry. I wasn't sure whether to qualify it as bemused or actually delighted. I tightened my fist in his hair. The purr and its vibration against me got deeper.

"Elena," he spoke softly, just a hiss in the depth of his throat, "since you do not intend to cut my throat I would suggest you remove that knife; before you actually do damage."

I breathed out into his hair, the strands fluttering with my breath. I let go of the swatch in my fist and removed the dagger from his throat. I stepped back. He turned around to face me, his hair rather comically tussled. He grinned at me, those nasty looking sharp teeth gleaming. "Now that was very enlightening," he purred.

Not even the stealthiest of Wraith and the most superb fighter among them—and this one, I had no doubt, was a particularly stealthy and alert one, and indeed a very graceful and fast moving combatant—could have anticipated what I did next and block it; my next move simply was not in the repertoire of the Wraith.

I sucker punched him in the jaw.

I don't know if Wraith had glass jaws in general, but this one apparently was rather delicate in that area because he gasped, stared at me briefly and slowly, and quite elegantly, sunk to the floor.

I let out a 'oh!' and stared with bizarre fascination at the big Wraith lying at my feet. Did I hear the Blue Wraith chuckle? _Well done_!

Suddenly shocked by what I had done and actually bewildered by the stillness of the form on the floor, I dropped down next to him, examining his face for any sign of life. His countenance was still and a couple of shades paler, the eyes closed. Without the share and shimmer of the golden eyes and with the hair fanned out like a luminous halo, the face looked absurdly angelic; a very alien angel. I bent over him, listening to his breath. I couldn't hear anything. I put my hand on his chest to feel for the flutter of his heart; if there was a heart in that area. That thought felt very odd.

With trembling fingers, while muttering 'please, please… that was nothing; you can't die from THAT…' I unfastened the hidden and elaborate, and very ornate, silver hooks and eyes that held together the front of the leather coat. I peeled it back to find a black shirt underneath and opened that as well, keenly aware of the little flips I felt inside as I was revealing the naked skin underneath.

The skin was pale and indeed rather green, covered with an intricate, triangular tattoo—or was it the natural pattern of the skin?—that started at the shoulders and apparently continued somewhere in the nether regions of his abdomen. I pushed away from my mind the image—imagined needless to say—of where the apex of that triangle went and what could be there. Taking a breath, I put my hand where a human would have his heart. I had expected the skin to be slippery and for some reason, humid; although the hand I had touched a long time ago was not. But, the skin under my palm was warm, dry and silky; it was almost feminine in its softness, although the muscles underneath were hard.

There was no flutter of a heart beat under my hand.

Then, I flinched, my own heart skipping, as I felt a strong throb under my hand. There was a heart there. Startled, I pulled away my hand and threw a glance at the Wraith face. The eyes were still closed and no muscle moved.

And then I did something very human—I bend over his chest and softly kissed the spot where the heart throbbed strongly, like a sudden heaving, but slowly with a rhythm that seemed to be only a quarter of a human heart's rate. My lips lingered on the satiny skin and took in that green scent; it was alien but pleasant; it was unique indeed, but it attracted me instead of repelling. My lips tingled and I kissed that warm spot again.

I peered at his face. He had not moved. That ridiculously angelic expression was still there. I was beginning to think that it was a ruse, that he was playing dead, ready to spring on me. I was wondering whether he was not having a grand time, playing the fainting Wraith for all it was worth.

I touched his cheekbone, where the tattoo swirled with two fingers. The skin was cold. I considered prying his eyelid open to see what was happening there, but I thought better of it.

I shifted a little and now, caution to the wind and human sensibilities and inhibitions cast with the rest of the terrestrial garbage, I bent down again and this time touched my lips to his. They felt hard and tight; and cool. I pressed harder and took a little taste/

_Like a tiny nibble of a small green grape._

Did I just think that?

_That's what my Ancient female used to say._

Oh… The taste was faintly sweet.

_Not his lips, you silly human! Nibble on his chest and go down the middle of the triangle-_

I jerked back and turned my head towards one of the columns that was glowing with a very low light. I felt my face redden, both with embarrassment and annoyance, if not exasperation at being obviously observed and monitored by the Blue Wraith from his den inside the hive.

"Don't you have anything to do?" I talked to the column.

It blinked; I could swear that it winked rather. _You need instructions._

This time I didn't speak aloud, but in my mind: "I suggest that you go and monitor some worshippers humping."

_Humping?_

But he didn't wait for my flippant answer and I could feel him receding. And then it was silent. Very silent.

I whipped my head to my right and met the amber eyes staring at me. That part of his face I called a green grape was smiling.

The urge to hit again rose in me, but before I could translate it into even the slightest movement of my muscles, the previously out cold Wraith sprung to his feet with the agility and energy of a big locust, away from me, his hands up in the air, palms facing me, in a gesture that seemed to plea for restraint. I did not miss the rather red look of his feeding palm.

I moved quickly to rise. In two big steps I was right in front of him. He didn't back off. With the open palm of my right hand on his chest, the front of his coat still open, I pushed him, or rather nudged him against the wall. He didn't resist. When his back touched the wall, I put both my hands on his chest and driven by some very mischievous demon—it had to be a Wraith demon and more exactly one issuing from the Blue Wraith—I first kissed him softly, giving no hint of my intentions and then nipped with great enthusiasm that soft, warm spot on his chest. This time there was a deep, purring growl under my touch that sounded both highly startled and deeply delighted.

I backed off, turned on my heels and walked away. I wasn't sure whether I was even going in the right direction, but I just kept walking, my nose in the air, my step firm. I was laughing silently. I think I was hysterical, and also giddy with secret triumph of female human over male Wraith.

As I turned with all the purpose I could put in my walk, into a hall filled with layers of columns, I realized that there was the sound of steps behind me. I didn't have to turn to know that it was my Wraith. I imagined that I was leaving behind me a wind of maddening pheromones.

At first the thought amused me and even excited me. Then suddenly, I was afraid. What have I done? What have I aroused? What have I awakened? My mind whirled as the sound of the steps gained on me and I found myself following that soft streak of blue glow at my feet. A rising fear both rendering my body heavy and pushing me to break in a run, made me turn suddenly into a side corridor of opalescent walls, a blue glow blinking at me at the far end. I hurdled towards it. The steps followed me softly.

I reached the end of the corridor and penetrated that blue glow, stepping unto a luminous floor under which flowed what looked like blue waters.

I stopped startled, my breath short. The steps behind me also stopped. I sensed rather than saw that the Amber Wraith was behind me. Very close behind me. I could feel his breath; I could hear the rare throb of his heart.

Was it his heart? Or was it the throbbing heart of the hive?

I stared at the beautiful chamber of blue amber filigree and luminous amber panels, long veils of softly spun silk, light like the web of spiders, fluttering above a circular pool with glowing walls spiraling down into a funnel. The water was a shimmering blue, like liquid sapphire.

I understood what this was and I took a step back. I hit the leather, solid form of the Amber Wraith. His arms came around me and his right hand, his feeding hand, touched the spot where my own heart beat fast and scared.

"The Ship Wraith is dying," he whispered in my ear. "A Ship Wraith who leaves his ship, cannot return to his own ship, or to another's. The ship will reject him. The Ship Wraith you call the Blue Wraith has given up his life at your request, to save me. He has given me life."

I listened to the whisper and I didn't answer.

"But now," he whispered still, "there will be no Ship Wraith and I cannot fulfill my promise of giving you a hive that will take us away, to see galaxies and worlds. Remember that?"

Caught in his numbing embrace, I could not move. "There is Lothar. He's a Ship Wraith…"

"He cannot be a Ship Wraith on this hive."

"Why not?"

"Genetics. The laws of the Wraith. Tradition." He pushed me forward towards the pool. "You owe me."

"I owe you nothing!" I said, firmly this time.

"You do because you want to set the world right. Your Atlantis killed his ship; your Atlantis attacked mine. It was you who first gave him life then would take it away by having asked him to take my place on this hiveship. You took away from me the place of a Ship Wraith. I am nothing now, unless a Queen takes me as the Commander. A Wraith Queen would not. But you would. A Wraith Queen could not put the Ship Wraith she created herself as the Ship Wraith of her own hive. But, you can, because you would not need to mate with it." He pushed me forward a bit more. "And if you leave this ship, I would be without a Queen. You owe me a Queen." He purred in my ear. "You would not go without making things right. It's the human thing to do."

I was now at the edge of the pool. There were no steps into it. Just a plunge into its depth. It was horribly deep, the bottom so far down that the point of light looked like a distant blue star. Suddenly, I realized I was terrified of watery abysses.

"It would cost you nothing," he whispered and his hand was very hot on my heart. He moved it in a circle, the soft aperture in his palm connecting with the curvature of my breast. I shuddered as I felt a nip on the side of my neck, under my ear. The white, silky hair fell over my shoulder and the goatee brushed my collar bone.

_I taught him well, didn't I?_ I thought I heard the Blue Wraith.

His lips touched the curvature of my jaw. It was not a real kiss; it was no more than a touch of his lips. The absurd thought crossed my mind that Wraith did not know how to kiss; but, they were quick learners.

My toes were over the edge of the pool. "Step in," he whispered.

I was dizzy, lost, floating between the veils of spiders, their silky touch like a lover's caress. The flicker of reality in my mind warned me that the Amber Wraith had invaded my mind, that the touch of his hand on my heart was draining me of my will, wrapping me in an alien pleasure that I could not repel.

Powerful yet careful, almost tender hands, the metal and amber finger guards tantalizingly brushing against me, removed my leather outfit and the undergarments. The veils of spider silks whirled around me and their touch felt like a million sparks of tiny delights. They wrapped me and held me in their embrace. I was lifted up and then gently placed on the surface of the blue water. I floated like a moth inside its silk world. Then the silk parted and the water came around me. It was warm and strange; it was water, yet it had strength as it gripped me and pulled me to it. I sunk deeper, the water closing over my head. Soft currents touched me like ribbons, circling me and binding me. It snaked up my legs and with no more than a distant flutter, entered me, tentatively, as if exploring and searching,

Several sensations hit me at once—ripping pain, a coil tightening around me that suffocated and a red hot flash tearing through my cranium.. I thrashed, panic filling me with its claustrophobic terror, the fear of drowning screaming inside me. I saw blood red streaks in the water. The pool whirled around me, sucking me in, drawing me into the abyss below, towards that blue fire at the bottom that would burn me to ashes.

I screamed in the water, without sound and the liquid entered my mouth and throat, gelatinous and cloying. I moved my arms and legs madly against the force of the pool.

I gasped in an explosion of water and air as I violently rose up the side of the wall and broke the surface of the water. Two strong hands were gripping my underarms and pulling me out. I felt hot liquid gushing out of me and I saw blood flow down the side of the pool. I screamed as I realized that the blood was mine. I saw the liquid in the pool whirl down, draining away with a woosh. And the pool was now empty and dark. The walls turned dark.

Strong hands unceremoniously handled me and slit amber eyes looked down on me.

"Elena!" I heard distantly. "Elena! Speak! Elena!"

Darkness wrapped me and I sunk in it, aware of nothing anymore.

###

Before I opened my eyes, consciousness drifting back over me, I felt a familiar place around me; the smells, the sounds, the very light. In those few seconds before the memory of what had happened came back to me, I thought I was awakening from a deep dream and looking around, I wondered what had happened that I found myself in the midst of the soft humming of the Atlantis infirmary, with Doctor Janson smiling down on me, her eyes narrowed as she observed me minutely.

The sight of the familiar young, round face with brown eyes and brown hair caught in a surgical cap filled me with comfort and I felt a smile forming on my lips. I was thirsty and dizzy, but knew that I was otherwise fine.

"Doctor…" I whispered, my mouth refusing to form the words and my throat too thick to truly produce a sound. I coughed. "Jenn…" I tried her first name.

"You're fine," she answered. "Nothing wrong, really." She must've read in my eyes that the memory of what happened finally took shape in my brain, because she answered my obvious questions before I spoke them: "The Wraith brought you here with their big hiveship. We had a bit of an alarming moment before they communicated to us that they were bringing you down. You came in with quite an escort." She smiled, apparently still reading my mind. "It was the Commander, or the Amber Wraith as you kept muttering and that blue eyed Wraith." She paused for a second, as if to listen to my next silent question. "They're still here."

I breathed out. "Not locked up, are they?"

"No," she smiled. "But we've got marines nearby." She let out a small laugh. "They're not very reassuring, those two, you know. But," she fussed with my IV, "I don't know much about Wraith facial expressions—when they have any—but your Amber Wraith looked a bit frantic." She leaned slightly over me. "Well… Wraith frantic; a lot of snarling." She leaned further and her eyes gleamed with a little wicked light: "You know the Wraith better than anyone, but, do you think they fall in love?"

Under her mischievous gaze I didn't know what to answer.

"I think," she said, "and this is between us two girls, this one is in love." She chuckled and sat on the side of my bed. She padded my hand with hers. "What happened?"

"With Wraith," I said, "it's like shooting rapids without a life jacket or a paddle…" My eyes shifted to the far side of the room where I saw a man, from his garb a worshipper, standing against the wall, looking haggard. "Whatever happened, it was not intentional."

"I couldn't get anything out of the Amber Wraith; which does not surprise me. He just snarled at me to get you well. He didn't say 'or else', but I got it."

"I slipped and fell in a pool of water; or what looked like water," I said quietly. "Who's that?"

Doctor Janson turned in the direction of my gaze. "Oh, him. He's a worshipper; a Healer among them. Your Wraith told him that if you die, he will become a meal for one of his drones."

"Very motivational…"

"We offered the Healer sanctuary, but he refused. He kneeled in front of the Amber Wraith and asked for punishment. Fortunately for all of us, your Wraith was quite sensible about it and just kicked him aside."

"They are not very subtle at times…"

"You were hemorrhaging pretty badly—the Healer was able to stop some of it—but there was no injury or anything. Your blood chemistry and your hormonal balance were completely gone awry. As soon as we balanced your blood chemistry and we stopped the surge of hormones, it stopped." She peered at me. "Apparently, Wraith do not have doctors, or the equivalent of a doctor. They just… heal and they do not have diseases that cripple them or kill them."

"That's what's known as being immortal," I mused.

"Yes… I asked your Wraith why he couldn't heal you like he did the first time."

My gaze shifted on Janson's face. "What did he say?" The same question had crossed my mind.

"It was fascinating, really," the doctor answered, suddenly animated with professional excitement. "He said that they can heal with the Gift of Life only those injuries they can see, the ones that are of flesh and bone. They can manipulate DNA if they have to for curing some of the issues they might have, which is primarily one of DNA, but in your case, there was nothing that was so to speak visible—no injury and no damage to your DNA. Also, he told me, that he would not use the Gift of Life on you again because of what it would do. He gave me a very interesting explanation of the enzymes and narcotics that are injected in your blood. He told me that it is that repeated injection of enzymes and narcotic chemicals that produces a worshipper and that while the first time he was able to remove that from your blood stream, a repeat procedure like that, which requires manipulation of your DNA, would either kill you or make of you what he did not wish you to be. Also," she leaned forward again, "he said that he would never wish to change you into anything else but what you are." She grinned. "He does like you; if you could say that a Wraith likes. However," she straightened up, "he did confess—I guess with a Wraith not everything is simple—that while you were on the hive the first time, some of his DNA radicals did attach themselves to yours; but they are dormant and extraneous—we have lots of that anyway—unless triggered." She sighed. "Triggered by the Gift of Life or…" she hesitated, "mating." She shook her head. "I guess Wraith mating involves some kind of DNA mingling. It's nothing like with humans."

I stared at the ceiling.

"Ready for visitors?" she asked.

I turned my head slowly. "Yes."

I hid my disappointment—one that came from elsewhere than my logical mind—at the sight of Colonel Santos and Doctor Bernard. Yet, they were a very welcome sight.

"Who's in charge?" I asked, trying to sound my old self, ready for biting sarcasm.

"You're in charge," Doctor Bernard declared. "Didn't you hear?"

"No. I was occupied."

"Yeah…" Santos interjected.

"Why is it," Bernard said, "that whenever one hangs out with Wraith, even so called friendly ones, one ends up either mauled, or unconscious or looking older; or younger…"

"Being with Wraith," I said, "it's definitely a contact sport."

"Like that Aztec game," Bernard launched, "trying to put the ball through some hoops by hitting it with their hip; an impossible task to begin with; but if you lost, off you went to the top of the pyramid to have your heart cut out."

I laughed. "You don't know how close you are to what Wraith sports are. But," I continued, turning serious, "who's in charge."

"We've had word from the IAO that you're in charge," Colonel Santos answered. "I am not joking, Doctor Vries."

I held his gaze. "I guess there are no regrets for Doctor Feng. No one got sad, or outraged, or really curious about what happened and why?"

"It was an open and shut case. He played Aztec ball with the Wraith and he lost." He offered a vague smile. "His problem was compounded by you being the referee."

"So," Doctor Janson spoke from the other side, "as soon as you're well, you've got work. We're waiting."

"We missed you, Doctor Vries," Bernard said.

Santos nodded. "You are needed. Badly."

"It is complicated," I said. Very complicated… I looked at Janson. "So, Doctor, when am I going to be well enough to get out of this bed?"

"Right now, if you can raise your head one inch," she answered with a laugh.

I sat up.

"You're ready," Colonel Santos declared.

"Conference room in two hours," I said.

Yes, Ma'am!" Santos exclaimed with military emphasis.

"Are the Wraith still here?" I asked. "The Commander?"

"Yes. Standing there, staring at the ocean. The blue eyed one is standing right behind him, without moving a muscle."

"If they keep this up," Janson said, "we might need to tranquilize them."

I laughed, and laughed heartily. "I want to speak with him."

"I'll bring him over—"

"No. I'll get out of here first and change; and try to look like a civilized human being. Wilting human being nursing hurts do not inspire the Wraith the right way."

All three looked at me.

I shook my head. "They are a complicated species. I know you are aware of that; but you can't imagine how really complicated they are until you hear their thoughts." I shrugged to conceal the discomfort of my own words. "This is a sentient, highly intelligent species that has no concept of friendship, or of saving another's life, or of having feelings for another. They just have alliances; temporary in most cases. They give themselves all the room and latitude they can for eliminating each other. The issues of immortality, I guess." I looked at all three of them. "They are outside our reach."

Santos and Bernard exchanged a glance, turned on their heels and left.

"That bit about no feelings? Not exactly true, from what I observed," Doctor Janson said softly.

"It's complicated."

"You keep saying that."

I rose from bed. "And now I have to preen to chat with a Wraith."

###

I stood on the threshold of the large room opening unto a terrace that overlooked the glassy blue expanse of the ocean and took a few seconds to take in the image of the tall Wraith at the rail, facing the ocean, just a form against the rising sun. The breeze played with the smooth white hair. I had no doubt that he had felt me come in and had heard my step, but he did not turn, perhaps allowing me the moment to look at him; perhaps allowing himself a moment before facing me.

For a second I caught my own reflection in the burnished surface of the floor—I had donned my strict gray and red Atlantis uniform that made little concession to figure or shape. My hair, which had gotten longer since I left Atlantis, was gathered in a pony tail. I was trying to make a statement; although it was half hearted and, on second thought, asinine; if not pig headed this obvious attempt to be someone else than the Elena the Amber Wraith had learned to know. You could not fool, really, an immortal, ancient creature like this.

The look on Lothar's face—his expression was by far the most open I've seen among Wraith—told me with a little smile that it was not a message that would be getting through. He inclined his head at me.

"I did not thank you," I said to him, "for the assistance you gave me." I took out the dagger. "You would like it returned, I am sure."

Lothar inclined his head again. "No. If you wish to keep it, you may. It would please me, actually."

It felt the hilt alive in my hand again.

He smiled. "I think it belongs to you."

I nodded and placed the dagger aside and turned to the Amber Wraith, who all this time had not moved. I wanted to speak with him alone, but privacy did not seem to be a Wraith consideration because Lothar did not move from his spot. I turned to the marines and signaled them to retreat from the room.

Perhaps Lothar had 'heard' my thought because without a word he slipped after them. I closed the door to the room and now, I was alone with my Wraith; I realized that for the first time in a long time, I was alone with him.

I walked to the rail and now stood alongside him, staring at the same point he was. I felt his gaze turn on me.

"Forgive me, Elena Vries," he said, his voice blending with the whisper of the ocean.

I turned to him and distracted myself with the flutter of his hair. His face looked drawn; or perhaps it was my imagination. But his face showed something that I never thought I'd see in a Wraith—defeat; or despondency. I stared at him. No… not defeat or despondency. It was desolation; and I somehow understood it to be the desolation of a long lived creature who had seen disappointment over and over and had grown tired of it.

I didn't quite know what to answer; I would not refuse his wish for forgiveness; and I would not tell him that I was not angry, but just didn't know what to think or believe. I was lost. Instead of a verbal answer, I put my hand on his and curled it around his fingers gripping the rail, the deadly metal and amber finger guards comforting.

He put his other hand—his feeding hand—over mine. "You are healed?" he asked.

"You won't have to kill the Healer or destroy Atlantis."

"Another day, then," he answered, a flash of humor having surfaced.

There was silence between us for a while, my hand between his. Then, as if of one thought, our hands came apart, mine still tingling as I put it back on the rail.

"Tell me," I said, "what was supposed to have happened in that pool and what happened instead?"

He seemed to shirk. "This is a Queen's secret," he spoke with that echoed voice of a Wraith. "We do not know or speak of it."

"You know," I countered. "You were a Ship Wraith."

"I thought humans had sensitivities about such subjects."

"So do Wraith it appears. But my question is the one of a scientist. I am also asking as Doctor Elena Vries, the new—or rather the returned—leader of Atlantis."

This time he turned towards me, looking down rather thoughtfully, the slits of his eyes narrow. "You accepted the leadership position?"

"Yes."

There was no visible reaction. Just a nod. "As for what happened… It was a mistake, one I should have realized and anticipated. Although you have the ancient gene, and although you have much of the DNA radical—dormant as it is—from our last encounter when you produced the Queen, and although on the surface you appear to be physically similar to a Wraith Queen, in reality that is only on the surface. Inside you are not—either your physically or chemically. It was a grave error on my part." He seemed to take a breath. "When a Wraith Queen enters the water—which is not really water as you have perceived, I am sure—the liquid triggers changes in the blood—I think Doctor Janson called them hormones—that trigger the production of the Queen's DNA essence. It is something that happens very rapidly. The… uh… liquid then extracts it, mingles it with the DNA of the Ship Wraith. It is taken to the chambers along the pool where the new Wraith are formed and come into the world, as you say. But in your case…"

"Yes, I understand."

"I greatly regret what happened, Elena Vries. It was not my intention to hurt you. You seemed to enjoy the same pleasures a Wraith Queen would demand and receive."

I followed the line of the white capped waves braking against the embankments of Atlantis.

He seemed to follow my gaze. "We are a space race," he said, "although we were at first created on a planet and dwelled there. But, this is not natural to us anymore. This expanse of water is so troubling…" I heard an intake of breath and a small hiss. "I was deceived by the first time when you provided the DNA for the Queen. You reacted like a Wraith Queen and I did not realize that it was only a heightened human reaction. I do not know humans. A deficiency that never troubled me before, but which I now deeply regret."

"And we don't know Wraith," I whispered. "I thought—" I broke off. _I thought we were not so different. Or are we?_ ""I thought that since you have Ancient human genes the methods of… of…"

"—mating."

"Yes… that also… would be similar."

"Perhaps we were and are, but we diverged greatly in our ways." He stared at the horizon, the light shining in his eyes, making them look like amber crystal. "I should have considered that the first time, when I used the Ancient device, I did not perform the full ceremony of a Queen."

I peered at him and said, before stopping myself: "What do you mean?"

"It is of no importance to you, or to me right now." This time the sound of desolation in his voice was unmistakable.

"I understand that you need a Queen now," I said, trying to keep my voice quiet. "I am willing to offer what you need to use the Ancient device, since that seemed not to cause problems." And I rather enjoyed it, I have to admit, whatever it was that really happened… Probably not what I thought happened…

"No, that cannot be. The Ancients had their problems with that device. And I cannot solve it. It's inherent in the device." He turned to me. "The human seed of imbalance, emotion—insanity, I think you call it—is triggered in a Wraith created with the device and it becomes dominant. The two Queens were insane. Siegfried, as you called him, he inherited it. It seems to be transmitted t through the generations. No, that cannot be."

A heavy silence dragged between us again.

I was the first to speak. "After all that happened, is there a baby Ship Wraith in the making?"

"No." I saw his hand grip the rail. "The Ship Wraith, the one you call Blue, is dead. The shock to him was even greater than to you. He could not sustain himself anymore."

I felt tears in my eyes; and it stunned me. "I am so very sorry," I said, my voice breaking. "Truly, so very sorry."

"You liked him, didn't you?"

_Not as much as I like you_."What do Wraith know of liking?"

"We are not without discernment of such things."

I smiled to the wind. "He was very ancient. He was very wise." And he was funny and outrageous. He had moments when he was almost himan.

"Yes, he was. He was one of the Early Ones. He knew the Ancients well. The Ancients' gene was strong in him."

"How old are you?"

"In human termas? I do not know. But, not nearly as old as the Blue Wraith was. I came to be long after the Ancients had ascended."

"The Blue Wraith told me that they never did."

"Of course they didn't. They just turned to dust. They were fools." He turned to me. "So are you, their descendants, you, humans."

I took a step back. I had not expected him to turn so quickly; I should've known. But, I didn't argue. How could a short lived species with scant knowledge or understanding of its own history argue with a creature that lived for millennia? Yet, their experience was in many ways static. "I suppose," I said, "after a while, everything repeats itself; everything is one great déjà vue in the long life of a Wraith."

"That is why, Elena Vries, you are so different to me. You are not déjà vue in my long life."

I was left speechless, a knot in my throat. With a life of its own, my hand went up and rested on the intricate pattern of the leather on his chest. I felt the one throb of his heart, and with sweet anticipation, I waited for the next one.

But then, I let my hand drop. He turned away.

"You are the leader of Atlantis again," he stated, his voice humming.

"Yes."

"Like all your predecessors and like all humans you will embark on that foolish quest you human call 'making things right'." He followed that statement with a contemptuous hiss. "You came to Pegasus—" His amber eyes were on me again. "Why did you come?"

"To explore the world of the Ancients. To learn."

"To what use?"

"To better our lives."

"How quaint."

"How corny, yes."

"You then decided to set things right—according to your rules—and at the end, as it is with all human intentions, you set everything wrong. You brought us out of hibernation out of turn and a generation of humans who would not have known the Wraith, died because of what you did. The generation before them and many generations after them would not have known the Wraith as more than a myth, had you not awakened us. And now, because of your presence and Atlantis, we cannot go back in hibernation, where we should be; and thus you condemn another generation of humans to know the Wraith. You've unbalanced the galaxy and you still think you are doing the right thing."

I could not argue with that either. I kept silent.

"Elena Vries, if you want the set things right, leave the Pegasus. Give me a Queen, and leave the Pegasus. We will go into hibernation, and soon the humans of Pegasus, generation following generation, will almost forget us. And when we awaken again, we may find a world that can defeat us; your Earth might not exist anymore. Even if we will return to our cullings, it will be more merciful than the cullings you have on your Earth. I saw the history in your mind—we would never kill 55 millions like you did in one of your wars. We know when to stop to preserve both races." He was now close, his breath audible. "And Elena Vries, the longer you stay here, the closer the Wraith would be to obtaining the address for Earth." His eyes shimmered.

I had listened to his words in silence. A great hole opened in my heart. I felt that deep desolation that filled him.

"I am due to a conference," I said instead of an answer.

"We will part now. Perhaps we will meet again."

"Perhaps…"

Then, he surprised me. "One more time, would you do what you did after you hit me?" His hand went to the clasp on his chest.

I stared at him for a moment, bemused, but then with a little flip in my stomach, I slowly unfastened the tunic on his chest, parted it and I touched with my lips that warm spot underneath which his heart beat. He became very still, his heart suddenly fluttering, as I bit the soft skin smelling of distant worlds. There was a soft shudder and a small guttural sigh and then he stepped back. He fastened back his tunic, straightened up, bowed his head to me and then marched out, the doors opening and then closing behind him.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

Sleep did not come to me; it had not come to me since I watched the Amber Wraith walk away down the Atlantis corridor, Lothar and the Marines in his wake. As I stood on the terrace of my quarters looking at the night sky studded with the shimmer of distant stars, that image of his straight back and broad shoulders, the white hair cascading down the golden black of the leather and the clipped step, was imprinted in my mind against the blackness of the sky.

The sorrow within was so deep that there could be no tears, no sobs, no tearing of mourning vestments… I was empty. I did not understand how I have come to this; when and how I had allowed myself to come to this. When did I cross that invisible line beyond which there was no return?

I stared at the sky, my hands gripping the rail, the feel of the Wraith' hand still on mine, like a wound or a burn that lingered; except it was not pain but forlorn tingling. I counted the stars up there, this seventh night without sleep and as I counted and formed star patterns and constellations in the heavens, I fell down the chasm of my decision; or perhaps soared to the very top of the sky.

I took my compad and touched it. Colonel Santos, on his ship, answered first.

"Colonel," I said, "you're awake."

"Night and day don't really mean much."

"Can you come down for a chat?"

"When?"

"Now. As soon as you can get here."

"One hour."

"Thank you. In my quarters."

"Yes."

Next I summoned Doctor Bernard and Doctor Janson.

A little over an hour later, Santos, Bernard and Janson were seated in the comfortable circle of armchairs in my sitting room, facing the long table with books and the night veiling the world outside the open terrace doors. I poured everyone a glass of wine—a rare Tokaji I had brought with me from Earth long before. The wine that had been aged, in succession, in five oak barrels, clung to the sides of the crystal glass like oil and it was like velvet on the tongue.

Bernard closed his eyes with pleasure as he sipped it and Janson narrowed her eyes with equal delight. Santos nodded with appreciation then his eyes looked at me with suspicion. "What is wrong?"

"Or what is right?" Janson asked. "I don't suppose you would waste a wine like this on 'wrong.'"

"You don't know Doctor Vries like I do, Jenn," Colonel Santos rumbled. "She's dulling the pain of her next blow."

"I agree," Bernard said and put down the glass.

"Nothing is wrong," I said and sat down, with my back to the night and black ocean. "Nothing is right, either." I set down the glass of wine, a golden drop still left on the bottom. "I have a question for each one of you. I want your most honest, brutal answer; the answer the goes deepest inside you." I took in a breath. "Colonel Santos, with all the military might we've put in this and with all the losses of life—and they are not insignificant—both on our side and on the side of the humans in Pegasus; and yes, let's count the losses among the Wraith—are the humans of the Pegasus safer since we've arrived?"

Santos turned the glass in his hands. "No." He put the glass down. "With the Wraith roaming around without—shall we say, sleep—the humans of Pegasus are even more exposed."

"Doctor Bernard," I turned to my chief scientist, "Have we made things better for the Pegasus—human and Wraith alike—and for Earth, or worse, with our scientific discoveries?"

Bernard was hesitating. "It's a two part answer. First, we've made things worse. We've stirred things up and unbalanced the natural course of things. We awoke the Wraith, and now, with our presence, they won't go back to sleep. However, without our arrival on Atlantis, which happened to be in the Pegasus, we could not have acquired all this technology."

"Couldn't we continue to acquire this technology if Atlantis was no longer in the Pegasus?"

A long silence fell in the room.

I looked at Janson. "From a medical point of view, other than we've discovered a species that does not die from old age and deterioration and has no diseases as we know them, what have we gained?"

She answered without hesitation. "Nothing. And we will learn nothing until we capture Wraith and use them for… well, research."

"Would you?"

"There is no need to even ask such a question." She looked suddenly angry. "Never. And you would never allow it even it wasn't me here. They are…" She shook her head is if to remove some abhorrent image from her mind. "No, never."

"But someone could come in my place and in your place and they might not have such misgivings or principles. Someone like Feng for instance. I've seen what his device did. And, it has happened before, if you recall. They did experiment on a Wraith. That was wrong. What will prevent someone else from doing that again?"

The deep silence returned. Then Bernard spoke: "What are you thinking, Elena?"

"One more question," I said. "And think well—you, Santos, as a military man and you, Bernard as a man versed in the theories of probability of the universe. How long, do you think, before the Wraith get the address for Earth and when they do…"

Bernard breathed through his nose sounding like a seal. "The more time passes, the more things mix, the more events accumulate, the probability increases. It is only a matter of time before the Wraith find the address for Earth. They're not stupid. And they're cunning."

"No kidding…" Janson murmured and threw me a side glance. It was she who asked my next question: "And if they do, and they do show up above Earth, what happens then, Colonel?"

"Hell happens," the Colonel answered. "Not an option. I'd rather that I did everything possible they didn't get it."

"Exactly," I said: "I need the three of you with me on Earth, in front of the IAC to testify and provide data and information. Truthful, honest and no punches pulled testimony, without the private agenda and motives of a scientist and military man. Please think about it, until you truly see my point. And if after all the thinking, you don't, I'll accept that."

Bernard made another seal sound. "I need to think about it and see if I come to the same conclusion, shedding my own desire to discover things, regardless of what they mean, or what they create or cause."

"I don't need time to think," Janson intervened. "I've been thinking about it. Although, like Doctor Bernard… my scientist's heart would break."

Santos was silent.

"I still want you to think, for as long as you need. And then, let me have the answer."

Bernard stood up. "So, we will think."

"We will think."

Santos stirred. "I think an analysis of benefits versus risks of Earth exposure to attack from space would be very conclusive to the IAC and all the powers that may be." He grinned. "None of them are scientific minds so they are not driven by the great desire for knowledge. Actually, they prefer ignorance. The ignorant is quickly frightened. I think we need to use a little fear."

"I'm not ignorant," Bernard rumbled, "and I'm scared shitless of the Wraith."

As they headed for the door and they palmed it open, I said: "None of you seems to show any consternation or knee-jerk reaction."

Janson mused: "It was inevitable."

Bernard added, from beyond the threshold: "It was always believed that it would be the decision of the Atlantis leader."

Bernard had been right; and of course, I was aware of that—it was always understood, and expected, that it would be the decision of the Atlantis leader. It became MY decision.\

The IAC, the military and the President accepted my decision after only two days of testimony from my team. I have to say that I had calculated correctly—Atlantis had been a thorn in the side of the military and the politicians for a while and it was only the fervor and clamor of the scientists that had kept them from rudely giving a direct order to terminate operations. My proposal was eagerly welcomed.

And so it was that one month after our return from Earth, as dawn rose over the planet of Atlantis, the city lifted from the ocean, a great tidal wave in its wake and as the massive waves rippled away and faded and the last drop of water flowed over the edges of the embankments, it left the atmosphere and entered the blackness of space, a luminous, fantastic vision against the panoply of stars.

Like an honor guard, hive ships of the alliance lined on either side, silent, black cutouts in the heavens, a few lights flickering to mark their existence. Only one hiveship, the most massive, flashed its lights of red and amber as the hyperspace window blinked and Atlantis disappeared into it. Then the hiveships blinked and flickered into their own hyperspace and melted away, once again the masters of Pegasus. A strange peace fell, as all motion stopped. The space of the sky was empty.

However, when the planet moved in its orbit and withdrew its shadow, and the distant sun's aura shivered at the edges, the burst of rays revealed one hive ship still suspended in the space above the Atlantis planet. It was the largest of the ships, the one which had blinked its lights in a vague salute. It now glowed in the fire of the sun with a dark, amber smolder. It seemed to watch and track the small, silver transporter emerging from the sun's growing light. As it approached, the hive ship bay doors opened and a cloud of darts emerged, swarming around, leading the small pinpoint of silver towards the gaping opening in the underbelly of the ship.

###

The Amber Wraith—the Commander once again—stood with his back to the corridor that coiled into the cavernous chamber of the hiveship bridge, facing the three screens on the far wall, the middle one showing the moment, frozen now in time, of Atlantis entering the eye of hyperspace. As the Wraith who had piloted the small, silver transport that had just entered the hive, came into the bridge chamber, the Commander did not turn or even shift from his straight back stance at the console. Several Wraith stood at their own posts, his second on his right. The only one who turned his head slightly, just enough to peer over his shoulder, was the blue eyed Wraith, the future Ship Wraith, when the time would come, Lothar.

When the pilot Wraith stopped behind the Commander, there was, as one would expect, a brief mental communication as to the data gathering and observation of the departing Atlantis. The Wraith punctuated his silent report—that took no more than a second-with a sharp incline of his head. It was at that point that the Commander became first very still, then with a brusque turn of his head he let out a sharp hiss. He didn't turn or even look over his shoulder.

I stepped around the Wraith that had been standing between the Commander and me.

He swerved around so unexpectedly that I flinched. His eyes were shadowed, but I sensed that his slit pupils had widened and than narrowed. My heart was racing and that shadowed stare on me did nothing to quiet my heart.

Another low hiss, this one quite cold and menacing sent the Wraith in the chamber away, to disappear into the misty maze of corridors surrounding the command bridge. I was alone with the Commander, with the Amber Wraith, nothing between us but the cold air and the silence of the hive. There was no alliance, no Atlantis, no terms, no Earth and no Horizon with its weapons to place me in the Wraith scheme or frame of reference. I was alone, defenseless and human.

I had never felt as naked as I did in that moment. For the first time I felt I faced a predator; a very cunning, quick and gifted predator. Suddenly, the madness of my decision, the idealistic naïve beliefs of my decision—the sheer stupidity of it—washed over me. Involuntarily, I took a step back.

"Do not be absurd, Elena Vries," the Amber Wraith finally spoke, halting my instinctive, panicky retreat with the low purr of his voice. "Your belief that I would harm you, even without the force of Atlantis behind you, is disappointing."

I smiled sheepishly and he descended the steps of the command console dais. "What are you doing here, Elena Vries?" He threw a quick glance at the image of Atlantis frozen in time. "What human insanity has gripped you?"

I was silent. What could I say? Suddenly, I did not know what to say. The speech I had rehearsed in my mind had been wiped away from my memory with the one glance from the amber eyes.

He now stood in front of me, only a few steps away. "Nothing of what I proposed," he whispered at me—or was he talking in my mind?—"can ever be now." Then he added: "But I thank you for sending Atlantis back from where it came."

I straightened up and went into idiot human 'leader' and 'I-am-duty-bound to set the world right' mode. It was a screen that at this point felt a lot more comfortable than owning up to what lurked deep inside me. Instead of answering directly—answer what?—I said, putting on my most official tone, one that I had to admit I handled a lot easier and more naturally than one of emotional declarations to anyone; although oddly, I would find it easier to do it with a Wraith than a human; perhaps because Wraith didn't really grasp most of it.

"Commander," I said, putting an end to the circuitous thinking in my head, "I understood that your next action would be to go into hibernation. Would that be the whole Wraith population of the Pegasus?"

He seemed surprised at the turn of my answer to his question. "As I am sure you have already concluded from your studies of the Wraith, yes." There was something metallic in the tone of the voice.

"What's the sequence leading up to hibernation?" I asked, ignoring the pinpoint gaze of his eyes. Was he expecting something else? Was he?

"Our DNA reacts to certain stimuli such as stress, lack of certain kind of… food, or rather the reaction of the food—fear, distress, becoming more debilitating to the humans and to their energy, or the human population becoming younger, or older as the adults are culled—time lapse between hibernations that causes stress on the Wraith physical and thinking system, and other events that we do not fully understand. All Wraith receive the signal at the same time, or within the same time frame, that it is time for hibernation. It triggers modifications that bring on chemical changes in our bodies that are conducive to hibernation and prepare us for it."

"What happens if you ignore the signal?"

He allowed a small grin. "We get very bad-tempered."

"More so than you are already?" I quipped back.

"We get positively unpleasant."

"I am sure," I mused. "Have you received this signal?"

He stared at me. "Yes. A long time ago."

I let out my breath. "That explains the rude comportment of the Wraith…"

He came a step closer. It had been a quick and aggressive move. "You are here, Doctor Vries, to ensure that hibernation happens? I didn't think humans cared what happened after they left; certainly not to the extent to leave someone like you behind."

"It was my choice." No weakening, I warned myself as I pushed my chin up. "Yes. I want to ensure that Atlantis' departure and the cessation of our project was the correct decision in affecting the balance of the Pegasus galaxy. I am here to ensure that the terms of our alliance are fulfilled. I want to ensure that the Wraith hibernate for hundreds of years. You must be feeling very sleepy and grumpy. I think you need a good, long hibernation."

He tilted his head and peered at me, the line of his mouth tight. He looked as if he didn't believe me.

Darn Wraith… _Had the Blue Wraith been talking to you?_

_Yes_

"I understand about the signal," I said "and that you get quite cranky if you don't obey it, but what ensures that there are no rogue Wraith factions that use the hibernation of others to, well… grab for power?"

His lips tightened. "You think us so simple?" He let out a hiss. "The Queens initiate the hibernation of their hives." The slits of his eyes narrowed. The eyes were slightly green now. "The Primary Queen of the most powerful and numerous Wraith hives commands her hives and Secondary Queens and then commands the lesser hives. She ensures that all hives go into hibernation. It is the Queen, by the way, that provides the genetic material that puts hive and Wraith into the hibernating state." He paused for a second; for effect, I was sure. "The Primary Queen of the most powerful hives becomes the Queen of all Wraith at that point. She does not hibernate. She is the Keeper. She awakens her hive first and the others follow."

He hissed at me; I did not know why.

Yes, I did. I smiled. "Last I looked," I said, "you were the most powerful group of hives in the Galaxy. It is you who would ensure that all hives hibernate." I felt smug. _I can play the same game as you._

_No, you can't._

"Very clever, human." There was nothing nice in his voice. "But you are mistaken, and your plan is wasted. You stayed behind for nothing. I am no longer the most powerful hive. Not since I had to kill my Queens. I am at the bottom of the hierarchy of the hives. I don't even have a Ship Wraith. But, fear not," he turned his back to me and ascended the steps of the command console dais. "The Wraith will all go in hibernation. In time. Your precious Pegasus humans will be safe for centuries." He faced the screens across the chamber, his back to me. "They will multiply and grow fat and soft; and indolent. They will forget the fear of us until we awake again. That is the problem of short lives—forgetfulness."

I allowed myself a sigh.

He half turned his head. "What will you do, Elena Vries, when we go into hibernation?"

My innate flippancy and sarcasm always surfaced and took over when I felt disturbed. "I'll become the generalissimo of a small planet…" Then I added, this time without the flippancy in my voice: "That will not be an issue or concern, either to you or to me."

He turned slowly and regarded me from the top of the dais. There was suspicion on his face. He had not prodded into my mind; but that did not mean that he could not 'hear' echoes. "What do you mean, Elena Vries?" He hissed softly. "No more games, Elena Vries." _I don't know what you are concealing, but I know you are concealing something._

I looked into his eyes, glowing with that amber light that had so struck me the first time I looked into them. "I am here to give you a Queen."

He seemed to freeze for a second. He shook his head. "No. You would—"

"I have so decided, and it is my decision, Commander. The consequences to my short life are my choice." I lifted my chin and stared him straight in his eyes—not an easy thing to do, staring into the cunning and all seeing eyes of a Wraith. "You cannot refuse. It is a deep insult to do so."

He seemed to retreat a little; not physically but in his presence. "I do not wish to insult you, Elena Vries. But, I do not wish to kill you either."

"You do not know that it would kill me."

He inclined his head. "Why are you doing this?"

"To ensure that the Wraith will go into hibernation. To ensure that the most powerful hive is the one allied with Atlantis and therefore will keep the terms of the alliance."

His eyes shimmered. "When I was on Atlantis, I heard one of your soldiers use an expression to answer someone who had made a statement similar to yours in truth, or lack of it. I hope I am using it properly—bullshit!"

That human barn expression coming out of his mouth overcame all other considerations and I let out a laugh. But, then I started to tremble, either anger or the result of nerves coming to the end of their endurance. I clenched my fists. Was that a small step back he had just taken? "What do you care why?" My voice was shrill. This time there was no doubt he had taken a step back. "As a matter of fact, spare me the conversation. The only reason you are even asking is because you're afraid—"

"—Afraid?" he sneered.

"—that I might have some trick up my sleeve. Like give you a Queen that will turn into a mosquito after you go into your precious hibernation. Or may be turn you into a frog." I plastered on my face all the disgust I could conjure. "I assure you, Commander, this is no trick. I am not Wraith."

"Indeed."

"You would not understand," I stated with vicious contempt. _You're just a bug…_ No, this was not working out the way I imagined, with soaring music in the background, moon high in the sky and white, silky hair fluttering in the breeze. Nope, none of that was happening.

I looked past him. "The Blue Wraith—the ancient Ship Wraith-told me a story from his past and also about something an Ancient taught him." I returned my gaze on him. "Did he ever tell you about the Ancient woman?"

There was a gleam of intrigue in his eyes. "He was an Early One. He had many stories none of us, the later ones, would understand."

"He was bound to her to the very day he died. What he had learned from her had bound him."

"You want to bind me the same as she did?"

His Wraith mind worked nimbly, I sighed inwardly. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I so wish it. Because—" I broke the thread of my answer. I looked at some distant point across the chamber.

He stood mute.

I said softly,"You once used this very human concept called love to get what you wanted. Now you will get what you want. But you had no understanding of it. But I will make you understand this concept and that will bind you; and there will be a price to pay."

I had never seen on a Wraith' face the expression I now saw on his; it was still uniquely Wraith. It was a blend of emotions a human would never concoct—defiance, haughtiness, awe and reverence. It faded quickly, like a wisp of something untouchable.

He bowed his head, in a manner he would, I knew, only in front of the most powerful, and revered Queen.

I said, against the strangeness of the gesture and the feeling it gave me: "But you still don't have a Ship Wraith."

He raised his head slowly. "There is one. The blue eyed one. Lothar, as you call him."

"That cannot be, you told me."

His gaze of amber veiled me; or was it his thoughts and his name? "I am now honor bound to ensure that the Queen will have a Ship Wraith to establish her position of Primary." He squared his shoulders. "It will be done."

###

This time I was not escorted to my suite of alcoves perched high on the wall of that conical chamber, but to a long hall with burnished, translucent floor that looked like luminous glass and walls that were like mosaics of flowing light layered with the embroidery of the blue amber that was the ship's structural skeleton. At the far end, the wall, from floor to ceiling and from side to side, had turned transparent, the ribbons, swirls and spirals of stars and galaxies glimmering in black space.

I was seated at the opposite end of the hall, facing the window, on a throne-like bench with high back and arms, soft and warm around me, yet looking as if made of hard metal and amber. The outfit with which the worshippers had robed me, was a very deep red trimmed with black metal and beads of amber.

Four worshippers—two on each side of me—were seated in the shadows, their eyes, as the old books would say, 'fixed on the hands of their mistress'. Beyond them, along the walls, stood faced Wraith, their head inclined, and masked warriors, shadowy presences that suddenly did not feel like a threat. They were not guarding me; they were in attendance.

I searched for the familiar form of the Amber Wraith. He was not among them. Somehow, I had not expected him to be.

The silence struck me again. There was no echo, no shuffling, no rustling; not even the sound of a breath, in spite of the fact that the hall was not empty of breathing and moving beings. I mulled over that silence as I considered that a hive, without a Ship Wraith, was terribly silent, lacking even a distant whisper from its core. It was lonely without a Ship Wraith. The Blue Wraith had kept me constant company, even when silent; so had the Amber Wraith, when he had been a Ship Wraith. He had continuously been around me, softly touching my mind and even me, taking away the loneliness of a human with the strange companionship of a Wraith.

I had made my decision. There was no turning back.

I closed my eyes. The colors and distant scent of heather of the Blue Wraith drifted in my mind; not from outside, as it had been when he was alive, but from the lonely recesses of my own mind. I thought of all the things he had said, some mocking, some brutal, some haunting; some even kind. I thought of that Ancient woman, whose name I did not know, whose face I wanted to conjure but all I could see in the eye of my mind was a vague masque; I thought of what she had felt and wondered how close it had been to what I felt. She had given her life for the Blue Wraith; she had given her life to save him. How and why and what—I didn't know the details. Perhaps they didn't matter. However, the parallel with what I was doing struck me now like a bullet in the heart. Perhaps, she and I had been the only human women in the universe to have captured a Wraith in this manner; it seemed, using this poor statistical basis of two, that the outcome for such a victory was death. A high price… The Wraith were expensive.

I smiled at the thought. But that moment of mirth faded quickly as I realized that the price the Ancient woman had paid—at least in her mind—was far greater: she had also renounced ascension, that obsession of the Ancients for which they had trampled much and many.

My mind drifted in some kind of reverie that focused on that one thought—ascension. Did the Ancients really ascend? The Blue Wraith had said that they had just turned to dust. He had said it with conviction; he had snarled but he had not said it in irony. He had said that the Wraith were a result of that bid for ascension; for immortality. The Ancients wanted to be gods. Instead, they created the Wraith. In some absurd twist, the Wraith became the gods of the Ancients—capricious, cunning and clever, ruthless and avenging, destroyers of the Ancient arrogance.

The Ancients had turned into dust; the Wraith even if not strictly immortal because they could be killed; they were the closest one could get to immortality. Even the universe sooner or later would twinkle out of existence.

Dust and immortality.

Victory and death.

Dust. Nothing.

What will my Amber Wraith do with my body?

I flinched.

Shoot it out the airlock, you fool!

What do they do with the husks of those they've used?

I opened my eyes, nausea rising in my gut.

A worshipper was kneeled in front of me, holding in offering a cup of liquid, steam rising from it with a herbal aroma.

I knocked it out of her hand, the cup flying through the air, the liquid splashing over her. The cup hit the steps with a tiny noise against the organic surface and rolled away.

"I'm sorry," I exclaimed, startled by my own violent gesture.

The worshipper scampered away, out of my line of vision. I followed with my gaze the path of the cup as it rolled away and stopped. My gaze kept moving forward, across the burnished floor, towards the galaxies and starts filling the great window at the far end.

A warm flicker touched my heart.

The Amber Wraith was seated at the window on a long bench, facing the stars, his back to me. He was motionless and seemed to be in some kind of meditation. I've heard of Wraith drawing themselves into far and deep thought, perhaps communing with the essence of their very existence. Was there a soul there, after all?

They were an Ancient experiment gone too far; no soul; just immortality. But Death still came to them. And then they turned to dust. Just like me. Just like the Ancients.

I stood up and descended the steps. I walked slowly down the long hall, passing the guarding Wraith, their head inclining deeper as I passed. What were they thinking of this human they had to honor? Were they even thinking or was the communal thinking of the hive the same as that of its Commander, its former Ship Wraith? Was that what a Ship Wraith did? Create a communal thinking with the hive and the Queen? Why couldn't Lothar be the Ship Wraith of this hive? Was it because the Amber Wraith was still a Ship Wraith and he could not be controlled?

He said that there will be a Ship Wraith for the Queen we will create.

What will become of my Amber Wraith? A wanderer, alone… Would he be allowed to hibernate in this hive?

Would he find another hive, a Queen to take him in? Would any hive take a Ship Wraith who had lost his hive? There was no pity for the fallen, no room for the loser.

Would they kill him if he lingered too long in this hive? Would Lothar kill him?

If that was the way of the Wraith, yes, he would.

What a tangled madness. Had he not had to kill his Queens because of me; had he not had to reveal his position to Atlantis because of me; had I eliminated Feng the day I heard of his treachery…

But a Wraith is immortal. They are so because they survive and have an instinct to survive unimpeded by sentimental and emotional claptrap and drivel. They live for thousands upon thousands of years; they survive thousands of years of strife, battle and treachery and power plays because they are unsentimental in their quest for ways to survive. Their energy and creativity is focused on surviving, and they value, in some strange way, life more than those who are short lived; like me. They do not die for others; and they do not die with others, given the choice. They do more than survive; they prevail.

I stopped behind my Amber Wraith and softly stroke the hair falling on his back. Its silken touch flowed against the skin of my palm and sent a shiver through me. It was not like human hair, cold and dead. It seemed to have life in it, to caress back. I lifted the hair with my both hands and let it fall in a slow, silvery veil. My hands felt it vibrate with delight.

I walked around the bench and stood in front of him. His head was slightly bent, his gaze on his hands, fingers joined at the tips.

He lifted his gaze to me. "You are full of thoughts," he said.

"Do you know what they are?" I asked.

"No."

I looked into the amber eyes and I was not sure what I saw there, but all the sardonic flippancy, all the anger and confusion I felt was replaced with the desire—absurd, I told myself; you're dealing with a Wraith—to comfort whatever darkness troubled him. Had anyone ever shown a Wraith tender comfort? Of course not.

Perhaps the Ancient woman had to the Blue Wraith.

"And what are you thinking of, my love?" I said softly.

The pupil widened just a fraction and only for a moment. "I am thinking of the Wraith name I will give you."

_And the thought fills you with the darkness a Wraith would call sadness._

"You will give me such a name?" I echoed.

"So that you can hear me when I call."

I sat down next to him, although I had no idea if that would be the acceptable thing to do.

"I like red," I said. "And the smell of violets." He would not know what a violet is. "It's a flower on earth." Very small and dainty and fragrant.

I spied a vague smile on his lips. He nodded softly.

I arranged a long strand of his white hair on his shoulder.

"You like to do that," he mused.

"It feels alive. It's different than human hair." I played with the wisps of hair, feeling their caress between my fingers.

"It is different," he answered. "I can feel you touch it and the warmth of your hand; and you."

I contemplated the ribbon of hair draped on my palm.

"The Ship Wraith—the one you call the Blue Wraith," he said, "told me that the Ancient woman he knew also liked to play with his hair."

I placed the strand of hair back, neatly along the other neatly combed strands of his hair. Did he comb it, or did it arrange itself like that? Suddenly, I thought of that hair alive, moving. "What did he tell you about her?" I asked as I watched intently the hair to see if it moved.

It didn't, of course.

"He told me that she died for him."

I was silent of a few seconds. "Did he tell you how it came to be?"

"I would've thought you would ask me why."

"I don't need to."

"The Guards of the Ancients were pursuing and hunting down the Early Wraith, the ones who had rebelled. She hid the Blue Wraith from them.. She shielded him with her own existence and gave him time to escape when he was discovered."

"She caught the fire meant for him," I mused.

"No. The penalty for concealing and abating a Wraith was death."

I looked at him, stunned. "They executed her? Like-they put her up against a wall and shot her? The Ancients?"

"A different kind of death sentence and execution than the one you think; a lot less crude and a lot more cruel—she was denied their precious Ascension." He let out a subdued snarl. "In many ways like the death of a Wraith—a denial of immortality."

"But there was no Ascension." A meaningless death sentence. But she didn't know that. She had, in her mind, given her immortality for the life of a Wraith.

"In her mind, there was," he echoed my thought. "In reality?" He shrugged. "They were at the end arrogant fools." Like all humans, I expected him to add. But he did not. He turned his face to me. "She had told the Blue Wraith of an Ascension Ship somewhere at the edge of the galaxy—she knew the secret of its location-and made him promise that he would take her there when she died. I do not know the sequence of events, but he fulfilled his promise and took her to the ship. It was out there, unguarded. No one thought that a Wraith could reach it." He grinned. "But they did; by then, the Ancients were defeated and gone. The Ancient woman had lived longer because of the Gift of Life. But, at the end she was ready to die. By the time he got to the Ascension Ship, she was barely alive. He found pods, tier after tier of them. He put her in one, as she had taught him." He paused, grinning vaguely at the galaxies shimmering in the window. "She had told him that in time, their bodies would be dissolved and transformed into a form that contained their very essence and thoughts, a bodiless entity that could be perceived by the eye as a blue luminosity. In this state, they would be absorbed into the universe and thus ascend." The grin became more gleeful, the sharp teeth showing. "Wraith are a curious and suspicious race; also a patient one. He waited to witness Ascension. He even contemplated following her. But, all of them, including her, slowly turned to dust. Even their bones crumbled. Just the machines flickered." He let out a long breath. "Yet, he told me, he would try to call her. Of course there was no answer. When he became a Ship Wraith, he no longer called her. And then, when you came, you reminded him of it and he called her again." He shook his head slightly. "He thought he had heard her answer. Just as he died. An illusion. Delirium. He was dying."

"Yes, an illusion. But a moment of comfort."

"Yes, a moment. Nothing more."

"Wraith don't think there is anything after death?"

"Why would there be? That's immortality, is it not?"

I left it there. I didn't want to talk of death.

I put my hand on his, the warm skin and cold of the finger guards competing for my attention. I leaned against him and rested my head on his upper arm.

I didn't want to face death alone.

"What will you do if Lothar becomes the Ship Wraith?" I asked.

"We are a resourceful race, Elena."

I nodded, the side of my face against the leather of his sleeve and the warm, silken hair.

I heard a distant song and smelled the scent of flowers in a warm forest. The gold and red leaves trembled in the breeze and they became veils of scarlet and amber rising to the sky, wrapping the galaxies. The beauty left me breathless and tingling with warmth and delight.

"What is this?" I whispered.

"Your name."

"Oh…"

"Do you accept it?"

"Yes." How could I not, when it gave me such happiness?

"Then it is done."

With the gift of my name he gave me another gift, for a Wraith one of the deepest intimacy; an intimacy more powerful than that of the flesh, more intoxicating and compelling than any human could conjure with their bodies—the touch of his mind on mine in ways I never imagined a Wraith, or anyone, could. There were no boundaries and there was no inhibition.

It was a long while before I moved, enthralled and captured in the web of his thoughts.

And then I felt something else. The hiveship was not silent anymore.

There was a Ship Wraith present in its core. Lothar. A Ship Wraith had to be there, I understood—oh, I understood so many things now—for a Queen to come into the world. I stood up and waited. My human mind did not know for what, but Amber's Wraith mind twined with mine to give me the knowledge.

It was time.


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13**

Soft veils floated and twirled around me, touching me and surrounding me in a luminous enclosure, like a silk cacoon with the light seeping through it weave. But it was an enclosure that did not imprison me, but captured me in the touch of my Wraith. I allowed myself to fall back into the whispering net of silk—or was it a nest?—and from some distant space filled with all the things I loved—stars, breeze of the ocean, whisper of the forest, scent of flowers and the form of Amber—I heard my name called. I answered it and followed its call until I drowned in its magic.

I sunk slowly into the silks within that cocoon woven by my Wraith. I watched him approach like a ghost, all in white. And that startled me, to see him in white instead of the black. Then his robes became golden red. The white hair flew and spread behind him, like an aura. Was he real, or was it my mind? It did not matter. There was so much happiness that I did not think either my mind or my body could contain it without self destructing.

I felt my clothes open and peel off me. And then I felt something else—like the soft feet of butterflies tap at me and their wings beat against me.

I opened my eyes, drawn out of the distance. Amber's fingers travelled down my chest and abdomen. The thrill of that touch entered deep inside me. I reached to touch that soft spot on his chest. He lowered himself to allow me to kiss him. I let my fingers travel down to the apex of that triangle that patterned his skin with exuberant designs.

What I saw looked at first human; but then I realized it was not. It was alien, fascinating both in a mesmerizing and frightening way. I froze, my blood turning cold.

When the Wraith's mating sting touched the skin of my abdomen, my instinct was to scream; but the touch in my mind veiled me in quiet and anticipation. I felt its sting and throb and then I was pushed into a spiral of exquisite pain and deeply aching pleasure. The insane whirl of colors, scents, sounds and fantastic sensation, never known to my mind and body, overwhelmed me.

And then there was complete silence and a dark blue nothingness. Only stars shimmered far, far away.

Now and then I would return from that blissful vessel of deep blue and stars and behold the world around me of fluttering breezes and amber glow; and the Amber Wraith standing in attendance at my feet. He never left, not for a moment, not for a breath. Every time I came back to consciousness I knew that he would be there, his slit amber eyes strangely comfortable.

I was dying, I knew. Whatever life formed within me, it was drawing my own life away. The blue darkness was longer and longer, deeper and deeper. The hiveship hummed softly around me and my Wraith stood guard.

A death watch.

I put out my hand to him. He came closer and I touched his hair. He bent over and kissed me. A Wraith kiss, one of the mind more than of the lips; an imitation of a human kiss. But, a kiss nevertheless.

I heard a distant sound. A whisper. A small squeal. It was the life inside me that was no longer inside. Then a cry. It was a hungry and powerful cry, powerful not so much in volume as in its quality. I saw a tiny hand, barely formed, but with a feeding slit in it. I saw a male worshiper come forth and saw the tiny hand on his chest. I saw the small life draw life from the human; the replenishable life that it would draw from a Wraith mother, but which I could not give any longer, because mine could not be replenished. And then I saw a vague image of a Wraith Queen in my mind; the way she would look when emerging from the chamber in which she would grow for many years. She was tall, with blue eyes, the slits dilated, her hair smooth and silver, to be colored red when she would take her throne. A Primary Queen, insatiable for power and domination.

Death tiptoed around me, circling slowly. Was it a Wraith? No… It was not a Wraith Death. It was a human death, in black, its face pale, perfect and beautiful, the black wings whispering to me as they passed me.

The veils of my protective cocoon parted and I was lifted up on strong arms. I moved through space and time on those arms until a silent bluish light shrouded me. I caught the fluttering image of something disturbing, just a glimmer, that faded quickly-crumbling ashes of dried up husks that had once been people, laid out in glass coffins, their white shrouds gleaming in the blue lights.

The image faded, gone, forgotten, just my imagination.

I was on my back, quiet around me. A hand softly touched my chest and I heard my name of reds, golds, forest scents… And then the gold and amber of my Wraith' name. Glass moved around me. I touched the silken white hair. It was close to me, covering my breast and face. I felt its warmth. I felt also the solid warmth of the Amber Wraith; one last time.

One last time…

And the blue darkness fell, lengthening, spiraling into a far point of light.

###

I opened my eyes.

No, I had not actually opened my eyes. Rather, the world switched on around me, like a big lamp.

My heart leaped in astonishment—I had been so convinced that I was dead.

And then, as my surroundings registered in my brain, I felt a wave of delight—I was in the middle of an enormous library, rich in blond woods, gilded lamps, coffered ceiling with intricate carvings and a parquet floor covered with red and blue rugs. The spines of rows upon rows of books lined the walls. Tall, arched windows flanked by deeply colored draperies opened unto an expanse of fields, forests and waters. I saw people scattered over the pathways and on the lake. Couches covered in brocades, ormolu desks and leather armchairs invited me to cosset myself in my favorite pastime, one I had not indulged in for years—curling up with a book and a dream.

I tried to recall the last thing I could remember before waking up—appearing, as I was standing as if I had been so for quite some time, in surroundings that must've been familiar to me. My breath slowed down as my mind whirled back and forth between that library and park outside and the image of hiveships, Wraith, blue lights and corpses turned to dust.

My dumbfounded, circuitous and increasingly panicky rumination was interrupted by the soft woosh of an opening door. I turned towards the sound, eager to find something, anything, to explain or confirm the world around me. I touched the back of a chair. The red and silver brocade felt silky under my hand and the chair's volume solid and heavy.

One side of a carved, tall double leafed door had opened at the far end and a woman in a long, loose blue dress cinched with a silver belt, strode in. As she walked towards me I could see her elaborately plaited black hair and the long, sculpted, and rather arrogant, features of her face.

But the twinkle in her dark eyes and smile were anything but arrogant.

"Welcome," she said and stopped a few steps in front of me. She inclined her head.

I stared at her speechless, wondering what form of madness this was; if this was another one of those Wraith mind things; or…

"I came to welcome you," she said, "as I am the only one you know here."

Here? Did I just get here? I don't know you… Should I?

"My name is Aritha." She bowed slightly.

My heart jolted—in fear, in panic, in realization, in hope, in relief; I was not sure. "But…" I muttered.

"You are confused. That is understandable. You know nothing of this. You are one of our distant descendants on Earth. I can hear echoes in your mind, some thoughts, but I do wonder how you have come to be here. The only one of your kind to have reached us."

I stared at her.

"You have heard of Ascension." She had not asked a question. She stated it.

"I am… not dead?" I finally managed to stutter.

She smiled vaguely and looked aside. Then her gaze returned on me. "Shall we sit?"

"Some tea and scones, perhaps?" Aritha asked as we sat down on a settee with a low table in front of it.

Might as well… Dead or alive, one must follow social protocol and polite niceties. The absurdity of the tea and warm scones with a pot of butter and a jar of honey carried by an older woman almost made me laugh.

Tea was poured, scones were buttered, honey was dribbled on them and dully tasted. They were awesome. The tea was fragrant and comforting.

"So," I reopened the conversation, "not to be crass or anything, but… am I dead, or alive and somehow… uh…" I waved my hand in a circle, "…ascended?"

She put down her cup daintily. She was a strange one, I decided. I could tell that she could be quite arrogant and unpleasant; but with me, for whatever reason, she chose to be the opposite. It was revealed with her next statement. "I am the Ancient of whom the Wraith you call Blue has spoken to you. My name to him was Nardina."

"Oh," I breathed out. Was this supposed to make sense? "A very interesting Wraith," I added in an attempt to bury and conceal my state of complete discombobulating. "Very wise and with an outrageous sense of humor. For a Wraith."

She smiled. "Yes. You know him well." And then she let out her breath. "In answer to your question—you are dead and this is not what we believed to be Ascension."

"Ah… Then?" My hands felt icy.

She peered at me. "Do not fear, Elena. There is nothing to fear. Your body, or what is left of you, is in a glass casket on what we deceivingly called an Ascension Ship." She stared in front of her. "You cannot imagine how much harm and hurt we did to obtain ascension and immortality; true immortality."

"Actually, I do," I murmured between two sips of tea.

Aritha-Nardina shook her head sadly. "The Wraith were our most terrible sin. We created them, experimented on them, tortured them with our obsession so that we could find the secret of immortality and of Ascension." Her gaze drifted to me. "We created them after we discovered the Iratus and its capability to absorb life, so that we could learn how to transfer the essence and energy of intelligent life." She sighed. "You know the rest. The Wraith became long lived, self regenerating, deadly, intelligent and superior to us in all things except—" She paused. "Except in the weakness of emotion. Not that they don't have any. But there's one they lack completely—love; and thus real compassion, pity… But, they have a keen sense of justice and honor. In their own way; as they understand how such things serves them and helps them survive and dominate." She fell silent once more and didn't seem willing to speak again.

"Then," I broke the silence, "what is this and where am I?"

She shrugged a little, sipped the tea. "Part of you, the material you, your shell is, as I said, on that ship, turning to dust like the rest of us. You are now the life essence and the energy, the patterns of your brain's electrical wirings, the chemistry of your consciousness that made you a distinct and intelligent life form. It has been sucked out of your material body; the machine of the Ascension Ship fed upon you—" She grinned at me. "—like a Wraith would. Now do you see the connection with the Wraith?"

"Brilliant…" I mocked. "I am inside this… machine?"

"Not the one in the Ascension Ship, no. That machine absorbed your essence and your life and transmitted it to a far, far corner of another galaxy, a place known only to dead Ancients, where there's another machine in which we are recreated."

I smiled ruefully. "So, we're alive, so to speak, as long as that machine at the edges of a galaxy is not destroyed by a marauding comet or some other intelligence that stumbles upon it."

"You are a scientist, aren't you."

"Yes. It kind of takes the romance out of things." I looked around. "So, we're confined to this?"

"Oh, this is a very big world. As big as our minds can contain. You can travel among galaxies and see worlds you never imagined."

"Real or my imagination?"

"Real. Projected unto this one, but real. The machine sends out sensors that travel to answer our questions and find the worlds we desire to see."

"Even to Earth?" I chanced.

"Yes."

"But this is amazing!"

"Yes," she smiled.

Suddenly, I felt fire in my heart as I realized how I had come to be there. "My… my Wraith took me, as I was dying, to your Ascension Ship," I looked into her face. "The Blue Wraith told him the secret of this place. But if the Wraith know of the Ascension Ship, they would destroy it."

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. There are none of us left. The destruction of that ship would only mean the destruction of our dust. There would be no effect here. Just the connection would be broken." Her face turned dreamy, as if her thoughts were travelling far away. "My Wraith never told anyone about this place, not until now." She looked into my eyes. "He did it for you."

"When he took you to the Ascension Ship, did you know that this was not true ascension?"

"I did not know. I knew that it was not quite ready, but we all believed that eventually, when everything was ready, we would all come to such ships and we would ascend. Yes, we believed that we are ascending with our bodies and souls." Her chest rose and fell in a deep breath. "When I reached this place, and still did not understand what it was, I called his name. But he never answered." Her gaze was now lost in a point in the midst of the books lining the wall across the room. "Although, once, just before you came, I thought I heard him call me. And then, when we received a signal that someone would be coming, we were surprised and anxious. Also, I sensed a Wraith' name in your mind." She smiled ruefully.

"Do you miss him?"

"Terribly." Tears gleamed in her eyes.

"Even in paradise?" I asked with a crooked smile.

"Especially in paradise." She sniffled, trying to conceal her tears. "When we came here we didn't cross the Styx, that river of forgetfulness. We have perfect memories of everything, never fading, never getting lost. Even the feelings retain their sharpness."

Oh, crap… I put down my cup. My heart was heavy in my chest. Dead, yet not dead; an endless world of wonder and knowledge, as much as I could absorb for as long as that darn machine out there lasted; alive, yet not alive; and the one being that brought me here, the one being that I wanted here, was far away, immortal but for death at the hand of another, never to be seen or touched again. And his memory would haunt undaunted and my feelings for him would not fade, but torture me with their longing. This was not paradise. I felt tears in my throat.

"The sadness and the sorrow will not pass," she said quietly.

"Nice to know," I quipped back. Neither my sarcasm or flippancy would pass. Good. A girl needed some help around this self-absorbed place.

"Call his name," she said suddenly. "Perhaps your Wraith will answer." Then she said: "Tell me about the Blue Wraith. Tell me everything you saw and heard of him."

I took in a deep breath. First the bad news. "He's dead."

She gasped a little. But, there was no other reaction. "Tell me what happened."

I told her the story- of the finding of Atlantis, of the humans of Pegasus, of the Lateans, of the Rising and how we awoke the Wraith; and then my story, that of the Amber Wraith, of the Queens, of Feng's weapon, of how we took Atlantis back to Earth; and how the Blue Wraith died with honor.

She listened without interrupting me, frozen on her spot, the sun setting over the forest in the distance, a golden glow fading on the lake. Lights came on inside the library.

"He's dead…" she finally echoed. "Thank you, Elena, for allowing him the death he wished."

I stirred in my seat. "Had he told me about this place, I could've brought him here and—"

"NO!" she interrupted me, turning to me with a violent shake of her head. "No!" She seemed strangely angry, or frightened; or dismayed. I wasn't sure. "No. A Wraith cannot ascend!"

"But, this is not true ascension."

"You do not understand. A Wraith would have to choose the death which they abhor most—to have their lives sucked out of them; to have a machine feed upon them, like the Ancients did to them; that's how we experimented on them." She seemed to shudder. "What a foolish thing to think of! The Ascension machine is not built for Wraith. They would take the life out of the machine—ours, not give it to it." She looked at me in anger. "You do not understand." She breathed out as if to calm herself down. "He would've had to lie with me in the casket, while still alive, so that my energy would blend with his, and he would have to wish himself to die along with me if he was to come with me. No Wraith wishes himself to death. They cannot!" She stood up suddenly and turned on her heels.

She walked away without a further word.

My heart was heavy—

How can a heart be heavy when there's no physical heart?

I smoothed my hands over my black and crimson dress. I touched my face.

How strange this was. How wonderful, how strange, how sad, how exhilarating.

I walked out of the library unto the great lawn spreading out under the darkening sky towards the lake shimmering with the pearly lights of the clouds above.

The beauty filled my mind and heart. In my exuberance and sweet sadness I called the name of my Wraith. I filled my mind with the amber lights, the scents and feel of his hair.

I heard my own name, the one he had given me, like an echo back to me.

I shook it all away and came back to reality; or what was now reality.

Athania was right. You are a fool. And now you will be a fool for eternity; or the equivalent of eternity. But no more fool than she or the Ancients.

I heard a sound behind me. There was something stealth and familiar about it.

I swerved around.

The Amber Wraith stood in front of me, tall and tantalizingly menacing in his black leather coat, his long silver hair shining in the rising moon, the slits of his amber eyes wide, his very soul in the gold of his pupils.

"No…" I whispered. I looked up at the sky, suddenly filled with anger, and addressed some entity up there, the machine I imagined hovered in the skies. "No, damn you! I don't want my memories and imagination turned back at me! Screw yourself if you must, but leave me alone!"

"To whom are you talking, Elena?"

I returned my gaze on the Amber Wraith. He was smiling wistfully.

"To some rusty bucket of bolts, if you must know," I hurled back, hoping to insult the machine.

"Ah… Indeed." He came close now and took my hand in his and put it on his chest, where his heart throbbed. "I am not the illusion of your mind. I am as real as you are." The last statement was sardonic. "I stole my way here." He grinned rather proudly. "I tricked the Ascension Ship. I laid next to you and it didn't know I was a Wraith."

My heart beat fast and my hand trembled in his. "You idiot Wraith!" I blurted out. "You died! You… You … you wished yourself to die! Why?" I clenched my fist.

He quickly stepped back out of my reach. "Something tells me," he purred, "that if you punched me it would hurt just as much as in reality."

"This is reality!" I was now shaking. "And reality is that you are dead!"

"Stop reminding me!" he hissed back. He put out his hand to me again.

Suddenly, I calmed down, that gesture having washed away everything.

He said, with a soft hiss: "How else, Elena, would I keep my promise to you that we would travel the galaxies?"

He turned his head sharply and took what I knew to be one of those aggressive-defensive postures of a Wraith. I could tell that every muscle—in the machine's mind as they were—had coiled in a deadly readiness to spring.

A rather large group of Ancients—men and women—approached, led by Athania. They stopped a few feet from us and regarded us silently, their gazes examining carefully the Latean and Wraith in front of them; the two intruders; the Wraith more so than the human.

"The Wraith can remain," one of the Ancients, an elder man who had stepped forward, a staff in his hand, spoke. "If you can demonstrate you can control this creature."

I suckered punched him. He let himself fall on the grass with perfect grace and a self-satisfied purr. I could swear that on his way down he flicked his hair. I took a pose of standing over him, like a prize fighter, my right fist in the air, signaling victory over my opponent. "Had you only known that Wraith have a glass jaw," I smiled angelically.

Athania looked at me amused; but the looks on the others' face was somewhere between bemused and indignant.

"The Wraith can stay," the elder Ancient spoke again. He pushed his chin up. "As your body and that of the Wraith were in the Ascension Ship, you should know that the ship was deactivated and destroyed, so that no one else could come through it."

They turned around and walked away, dispersing across the lawn.

A thought crossed my mind. I looked up at the sky again and attempted a question to the machine: "Will he have to feed?"

I almost choked on my own words when I heard a flat voice in my head: "He will not get hungry. He will not need to feed."

"Sure?"

"Sure."

I rolled my eyes and with what must've been a wicked smile, I proceeded to revive the Wraith at my feet; or rather coax him into abandoning his pretense of a Wraith in distress.

And we traveled the galaxies and the worlds the machine discovered for us, untroubled by life or the living. As we traveled, the Wraith went into hibernation for one last time and never woke up; the humans of Pegasus became extinct; the Sun darkened; life on Earth turned back to its primeval beginning; and then it died, the planet ground into cosmic dust in the throes of the Sun turned into a red giant and then into a dead cinder.

The stargates toppled and turned to shards.

We traveled, eternity and space compressed for us. Athania had been right—in the machine, emotions did not fade or change. But, we could learn new ones. And we did.

Until one day an unknown space faring life form, travelers from afar, found the machine and wondered what it was. They never did find out. However, no longer concealed in the depth of the galaxies or hidden from sentient curiosity, the machine wished itself to die.

As a Wraith had told me in the beginning—there were worse ways to die.

**THE END**


End file.
